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| p1. December 1-10 Nativity. Dec 1. �My soul magnifies the Sovereign, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, who has regarded the low estate of God�s handmaiden. For behold, all generations will call me blessed; for the one who is mighty has done great things for me�God has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts�and exalted those of low degree.� See Luke 1:47-49, 51-52. Mary sang this psalm because she believed she would give birth to a whole new world. The nativity, or birth, of Jesus would be the nativity of a new movement of God�s Spirit. Dec 2. Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? See Isaiah 43:18-19. �We�ve never done it like that before!� To change the church�s course requires a mammoth expenditure of energy over time. Individuals fear change, and many look to the church as an anchor in the metamorphic storms sweeping the world. But God�s Spirit beckons us from the future, away from the past. Even now, it is doing �A new thing.� Dec 3. �See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: �Prepare the way of the Lord.� See Mark 1:2-3. May we prepare the church to make room for your Spirit, God. Dec 4. A young gay person demanded proof of God�s existence. Seeing a spot on the wall, he prayed that if God existed, it would disappear under his thumb. It did. Then he looked at his thumb and found a squashed bug! He wondered what to make of the episode. God often works within our lives in subtle ways. Lord, hear our prayers. Dec 5. �Greetings, favored one! God is with you�Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.� �Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.� See Like 1:28, 30, and 42. The Bible is filled with blessings that we, too, should have heard from the moment of our nativity (birthday). God is with you! Blessed is the fruit of your womb/loins! Dec 6. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. See Romans 8:22-23. �All this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.� See Matthew 24:8. Jesus, compares the culmination of history to a woman in childbirth. Nativities cause pain and anguish, but result in the joy of delivery. For Jesus, the time was imminent and to be marked by geophysical and political disruption and the persecution of the faithful. Labor pains remind us that there is more to come. Bless us in the anguish of Labor and the joy of delivery! Dec 7. God does not want to frighten us into faith, despite the scare tactics that have been used against us by some Christians and Muslims. God wants to love us into faith, so we may share the assurance Paul offers in the verses that follow, �For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through out Lord Jesus Christ.� You have made us �children of light and children of the day.� See 1 Thessalonians 5:5. So we need not be anxious about thieves in the night. Dec 8. Jesus compared God�s entrance to a master of a house about to return from a journey. �It is like a man on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be in the watch. Therefore, keep awake-for you do not know when the master of the house will come.� See Mark 13:35. Few people cared about or even noticed his coming into the world. Mary and Joseph couldn�t even find room at the Inn. As Abraham, Sarah and Lot entertained angels unawares, as the travelers to Emmaus invited Jesus to dinner unknowingly, so faith helps us see that God returns every day to God�s house-our community, our church, our home. God returns in our lover home from a stressful day at work. God returns in the stranger seeking help. Are we ready? Help us keep awake, ready to receive you, Master of our home. Dec 9. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. See Philippians 4:4-7. Dec 10. �But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and truth. See John 4:23. �Until we recover theology as the delighted, passionate, imaginative, refreshing, terrifying, intelligent exploration of the inexhaustible God, we have no right to claim the interest or attention of the secular world.� Many of us would probably agree with Elizabeth Templeton�s evaluation, quoted in Joan Puls� Hearts Set on a Pilgrimage. Joseph Campbell thought the mistake of the church in the 20th century was to reduce the Christian gospel to morality. Have some of us made the related mistake of reducing it to justice? Delight us with your Spirit of praise and service, O God! |