Author: admin

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5

If you are feeling anything like I am this week, then the idea of launching into a holiday season seems unreal. There are so many unresolved challenges and difficulties in our world right now. A season of celebration feels inconsistent with the realities around us.

And yet, celebrate we must. The Christmas season is all about Jesus’ birth, his arrival, and his continued presence here with us. How do we move on and prepare for Christmas while still feeling stuck in the problems around us that are still waiting for answers?

This season of Advent offers the space to adjust our focus and live in hope. The word Advent derives from the Latin word Adventus, which means “coming.” It originally referred just to the coming of the feast of Christmas. But over time the season of Advent took on a double meaning. Today it refers both to the “first coming” of Jesus Christ in his birth at Christmas and to his “second coming” at the end of time. (1)

We look forward to the celebration while also keeping an eye on the horizon. Someday Jesus is coming back. His kingdom, his justice, his peace, his rule will be established. Until then, we pray so that we can stay in close relationship with him, and we live in faith focused on his word and his nature.

On the day Moses heard God say these words from Exodus three, he was leading his normal life, grazing the flock as he did on any other day. But on this day, something out of the ordinary caught his attention. He went over to check it out and discovered, as the story in Exodus tells us, “a bush that does not burn up.”

The bush may have been the only item showing evidence of flames, but the whole place was filled with God in the form of his voice, his person, and his plan. Even the ground beneath Moses’ feet may have been warm from the fire reflecting God’s glory.

God called his name.

Moses answered, “Here I am.”

Then God informed him of the reality Moses discovered. “. . . the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

In this encounter with the Lord, Moses experienced a little bit of Advent. In the midst of the ordinary day with the same common tasks that were performed the day before and needing to be done all over again tomorrow, God broke in. His shining glory turned a plain monotonous place into holy ground.

God had in mind a redemption plan for his people under oppression in Egypt. He’s getting ready to act. Moses is the first to see, the first to hear, and the one through whom God wants to work to bring this plan about.

All these years later, God still has in mind a redemption plan for his people. Each time the Advent season rolls around, we stand with Moses on holy ground. God is here. He’s getting ready to act. A savior is on his way. We listen, we prepare, and we anticipate the day when he arrives.

As we head into the weeks of December in which the world’s definition of Christmas competes with God’s, the quiet, underlying significance of Advent can help us retain peace as we stay focused on God’s voice. We prepare not only for days of celebration, but also for God’s plans to unfold in our lives. We anticipate not just the arrival of special occasions to make memories, but the reign of a King. His rule is one that will bring justice, order, and hope. The holy ground warms with the glow of his joy as his arrival draws closer.

A prayer from the Book of Common Prayer:

Holy One, whose coming we await, you invite us into the light of your presence. Illumine the dim places of our hearts. We are thirsty for your compassion. Draw near to us and fill us, that we may pour out your goodness to all who hunger. Amen.

(1) quoted from Seeking God’s Face, Praying with the Bible Through the Year, published by Faith Alive Christian Resources and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, MI, 2010, 2013.

The layers in our lives right now as Americans make the thought of celebration or giving thanks seem impossible. Uncertainty and fear related to the pandemic, tensions about government imposed restrictions, and the unresolved election are leaving us feeling anxious and upset. How do we pause and give thanks while conflict swirls around us and within us?

The Pilgrims, our ancestors in the faith, give us a great example of how to do it. This week we will observe an official holiday is designated for giving thanks. Prepare your heart to express gratitude by remembering what God has done for you in the year 2020.

A day off from work, possibly a church service in the morning and a football game in the afternoon, a large mid-day meal, and time spent with family. These are the activities that define for us what a well-celebrated Thanksgiving Day looks like.

The Thanksgiving holiday we observe in the 21^st century is actually a combination of three earlier traditions. These are the New England custom of rejoicing after a successful harvest, the commemoration of the Pilgrims’ landing in Massachusetts, and religious observances involving prayer and feasting.

The first thanksgiving was decreed by Governor Bradford in 1621 to commemorate the Pilgrims’ harvest. Later George Washington proclaimed November 26, 1789, as a national day of thanksgiving, but the holiday wasn’t repeated on a national basis until Abraham Lincoln named it a national Harvest Festival on November 26, 1861. After that time, the holiday was proclaimed annually by the President and the governors of each state. Finally, in 1941, Congress passed a bill naming the fourth Thursday of each November as Thanksgiving Day. [1]

The Thanksgiving holiday is one area where our heritage as a nation and our heritage as children of God intersect. The rhythm of pause for gratitude to the Lord is built into our functioning as Americans. This pattern goes all the way back to the earliest people to settle here. They were English Puritans, reverent in their Calvinist faith, and disappointed with the Church of England because attempts at reform didn’t go far enough to model the church of the 1600’s after the ancient church as depicted in the New Testament. These plucky Pilgrims may appear a bit extreme in their radical determination to cling to their vision of a pure church. They risked prison and breaking the law in their defiance of English politics. And yet, they survived with a gentle awareness of God’s provision for them.

This excerpt from a letter written by Edward Winslow, one of the participants in the first thanksgiving, to a friend in England, reinforces their ability to see God’s providence in their experiences:

And God be praised, we had a good increase. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling so that we might rejoice together . . . These things I thought good to let you understand, that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favorable with us. [2]

Imagine that first year as a pilgrim to North America. Most of their colony had left England several years prior and settled in the cities of Holland where they found a nurturing place for their high ideals. But these folks were farmers, and they feared the effects the city would have on their younger generations, so sought a place where they might preserve their culture as well as their religious standards.

The journey meant risk. The arrival on the other side meant hardship since they would be landing in the winter. Half of their group died, consecrating their pious commitments with grief and sorrow. The ones that survived built a village, planted crops, and with the help of their Indian neighbors, reaped a harvest enough to sustain them through the second winter.

But before the temperatures dropped and the cold wind blew snow in from low clouds, the community at Plymouth paused, feasted, and gave thanks for God’s favorable dealings with them.

The experiences of those early settlers teach us to realize what we have. We could just as easily not have it. Health, family, and daily provisions could not be taken for granted in those early years in Plymouth. When those benefits were bestowed, the people understood what they had been given and offered thanks for them. They gave thanks while also enduring grief. There were losses, and they hurt. But the event of this first thanksgiving shows us how to thank the Lord for what we have while also grieving what we’ve lost. Even when the losses appear to outnumber the blessings, we must still choose to offer the Lord our gratitude for who he is and the work he has done.

Like the pilgrims when the seasons changed, we must welcome the seasons of growth. They are straight from the Lord and intended to make us aware of his goodness and his favor.

A traditional Thanksgiving hymn from Germany, written in the 1600’s during a time of war and suffering, helps us understand what it means to give thanks even while dealing with hardship and loss:

Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done, in whom His world rejoices; who from our mothers’ arms hath blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us; and keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God the father now be given, the Son and Him who reigns with Them in highest heaven—The one eternal God whom earth and heaven adore—for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Father in heaven, we give thanks for life and the experience life brings us.

We thank you for our joys, sorrows, trials, failures, and triumphs.

Above all we thank you for the hope we have in Christ,

that we shall find fulfillment in him.

We praise you for our country, its beauty, the riches it has for us,

and the gifts it showers on us.

We thank you for your peoples, the gift of languages we speak,

The variety of people we have,

The cultural heritage we cherish.

Enable us to use these things for the good of the human race and to bring glory to you.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

[1] Amazing Grace by Kenneth W. Osbeck, p. 349.

[2] The Thanksgiving Primer, a Plimouth Plantation Publication, p. 5.

With man this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. Mark 10:27

Mark 10 is an unusual place to find inspiration for a Thanksgiving themed devotional. Jesus is teaching his disciples as they travel the road to Jerusalem, days before Jesus’ death and resurrection. It appears an unlikely time and place to learn about gratitude, but woven into the teaching is a message about the kind of person who truly knows what it means to give thanks.

Jesus is forming a connection between eternal life, treasure in heaven, and the kingdom of God. Mention is made of reward for giving up relationships and assets in favor of the kingdom. This comes right before Jesus explains his death and resurrection, how he will die, and the number of days that will pass before he rises from the grave.

The rewards are in tension with the inevitable persecution. The resurrection is in tension with the preceding death. The good, the bad, the difficult, and the pleasure are all a part of the discipleship Jesus is asking for. How do we live in this tension? I wonder if we must allow it to become a part of us. We characterize and express it in our person and in our interactions with others.

This means that our witness contains the freedom, the joy, the love, and the abundance of life in Christ alongside the sobriety, the contrition, the lament, and the willingness to suffer. As God’s chosen people, we are joyful, yet lamenting. Free, yet suffering. Abundant, yet contrite.

But beneath it all, we are grateful. We can accept all that the Lord is using in our lives to grow us. Death has a place. Suffering has a place. Waiting has a place. So does joy, freedom, and abundance.

Thankfulness can mean appreciation for good rewards given and the feeling of happiness that comes from enjoying them. Or thankfulness can go deeper and say, “I’m grateful for how I’ve changed. Thank you, God, for allowing the painful and the impossible into my life. Because of them, I have a deeper capacity to feel joy. I’ve learned what it means to give, and I’ve been freed from temptations or habits that held me back.”

This week, as you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, take time to look over the past year. Remember those times where you’ve grown from difficulty, and then thank the Lord for his goodness to you.

Let’s Keep Praying

As the drama known as “The Year 2020” continues to unfold, we are all dealing with mixed feelings and an ongoing level of anxiety. The Book of Common Prayer offers timeless guidance to help us put our feelings and anxieties into words. Here are two prayers, one for our nation, and one for times of distress. May the Lord bless us as we continue to turn to him with our concerns.

 A Prayer for Our Nation

Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage. We humbly ask that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure conduct. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought out of many nations and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom, in your name, we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your law, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, don’t let our trust in you fail. All of this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 A Prayer for Times of Social Conflict or Distress

Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and in homelessness, loneliness, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

*Both prayers are taken from The Book of Common Prayer, published by the Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019, pages 657 and 659.

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Luke 17:15-16

Now that we are into the month of November, I will be sharing blog posts on the theme of gratitude and thankfulness to help us prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.

According to Adele Ahlberg Calhoun in her book, “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook,” gratitude is a loving and thankful response toward God for his presence with us and within this world” (p. 29).

Gratitude is also a distinguishing mark of true faith. All of these men had a basic level of faith. They knew enough about Jesus to believe he possessed authority. Calling him Master seemed a natural way to get his attention. They’d heard enough about Jesus to believe he could do something about their condition.

And they were right. All of them were healed. Jesus honored their request for mercy. And yet, only the one man who returned to say thank you heard the words “your faith has made you well.” Ten men. Ten expressions of faith. But only one experienced a full healing.

The other nine possessed just enough faith to get something in return. Their temporary faith lasted long enough to ask Jesus to do something for them. After it happened, they left not seeing any more reason to hang around.

This scene causes me to ask the sobering question—is it possible to experience healings and miracles and yet remain unmoved to a deeper faith in Christ?

If “yes” is a possible answer to this question, then we must find a way to open ourselves up to God.

The invitation embedded in this passage is to celebration. The grateful man down on his knees before Jesus shows us how to stay attentive to the work of God so that he can enter into our hearts and lives in new ways during our times of deepest need.

Our needs might run parallel to those of the ten lepers. Maybe we’re engaged in a struggle with sickness. Or perhaps we endure isolation and loneliness. We may have a hunger for relationship that continues to go unsatisfied.

What do we do? We should attempt something that doesn’t feel natural or even make sense—at first. We fall on our knees and cry out, “thank you!” The celebration doesn’t have to arise over the pain or the hardship of the situation. Instead, it comes from the belief of who Jesus is. He is all powerful. Compassionate, and ready to change your life.

The practice of thankfulness offers many benefits. First, it releases Jesus to work. Mark 6:5-6 mentions a time when Jesus was inhibited by lack of belief. “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” When we express thankfulness, we are also expressing trust in him. This gives Jesus space to work.

Thankfulness manages selfishness. When we turn our focus away from our own hurts, problems, and discouragements, and onto the one doing the giving, we become more aware of others and more willing to give.

Thankfulness places proper value on the giver. When we acknowledge that someone had to make an effort or pay a price for what we have received, we elevate them in their worth and value to us. A simple thank you says, “You are important. What you’ve done means a lot.”

Thankfulness leads us into relationship with Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit, we delight in God when we show him gratitude. The one healed leper who came back opened himself up to a life-long relationship with Jesus where he received the gift of eternal life. From that moment, he went on to delight in Jesus through all eternity.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-2

Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:21-22

If there was any day I would wish to see included on the calendar as an observed holiday, it would be the day of Pentecost. Occurring fifty days after Easter Sunday and ten days after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, Pentecost marks the arrival of the Holy Spirit. The Worship Sourcebook explains Pentecost in this way: “Pentecost symbolizes a new beginning. It celebrates the unleashing of the Holy Spirit on the world and the empowering of the church to reach the world with the gospel.”[1]

This insight strengthens my reasons for wishing Pentecost was an official holiday. Jesus himself came at Christmas. His death and resurrection brought us salvation and eternal life at Easter. Now his Holy Spirit is available to us at Pentecost. It is a gift that we don’t know how to access or what to do with. By looking at the lives of others in the New Testament, we gain clues about how the Holy Spirit works and what that means for us.

The best theology of the Holy Spirit actually begins with the Christmas story. Luke repeatedly mentions the phrase, “filled with the Holy Spirit.” This applies to John the Baptist, who was prophesied to be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born. Men and women both are filled. People like Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon in the temple who had the Holy Spirit upon him, and Mary whom the Holy Spirit overshadowed. Later, Jesus himself is filled with the Holy Spirit at the time of his baptism. During the start of the early church, Stephen and Peter are both said to be full of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit accomplishes a variety of works among God’s people. He is comforter, counselor, and teacher. He is the fresh wind of power equipping people for witness to the acts of God and giving them the words to say to proclaim truth and spread the good news of the gospel.

As I look around at the needs and tensions in our world today, I see a ripe time for us as the people of God to be asking for his Holy Spirit to come. Cultures and societies look in every direction for comfort and restoration, but human governments and religious structures can’t provide this. A higher authority must step in and deliver healing and peace.

As the account in Acts 2 shows, God’s Holy Spirit is for all people from all races and all nations. Here is the story of what happened on the day the Holy Spirit blew into town:

When the day of Pentecost came, they (the disciples, Jesus’ mother Mary, and Jesus’ brothers, as stated in Acts 1:14) were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (languages) as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all of these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

The countries listed in this passage bordered the Mediterranean Sea and represented the civilized world as it was known at that time. Romans from what is now Italy, Africans, Asians, and Jews. Everyone had a chance to hear the gospel. That was the reason for the Holy Spirit coming to that location on that day. Visitors were in Jerusalem from all of these countries, heard the gospel in their own language, and then took it home to tell their communities.

The only place to find answers to our world’s sufferings is in the power of the Holy Spirit. Ask him to fill your life today. Ask him to breathe on your neighborhood, your town, your world. The time has come to welcome him into our realities and let him have room to bring about change and redemption so that we can look together to the horizon of new beginnings.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

Prayer[2]

Spirit of God, we gather together to pray. Give us faith, that when you come like the wind, though we do not see you, yet may we hear what you are saying to us and discern your movement.

Give us courage, that we may not fear the tongues of flame. Let all that is unworthy, impure, and sinful be burned from our lives. May we know that it is love that burns so brightly and love that strips away our sin.

Give us an open mind, Lord, that the truth you bring may make its home with us. Truth to set us free, truth to guide us and inform us, and truth to lead us in the way of your will.

Give us an open heart, Lord, that we may seek all people for your realm, and set no limits to the proclaiming of your Word.

Holy Spirit, with the whole church we wait for you in every place and in every generation.

Come, wind.

Come, fire.

Come, truth.

Come, love.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

---

[1] The Worship Sourcebook, Co-published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Faith Alive Christian Resources, and Baker Books. Copyright 2004, p. 687.

[2] The Worship Sourcebook, Co-published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Faith Alive Christian Resources, and Baker Books. Copyright 2004, p. 692.

“If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place I am going.” John 14:2-3

Today marks the fortieth day after the resurrection of Jesus. In those forty days following his rising back to life, Jesus stayed on earth. In the words of Luke, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them (the apostles) and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

When those forty days were over, Jesus took his disciples to the Mount of Olives and, right before their eyes, his feet left the ground as Jesus rose higher and higher into the sky. The book of Acts reports quite thoroughly on this event, including both the wonder of Jesus’ ascension and the humor of the disciples’ response. Verse 9 says, “He was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight.” And then, in verse 10, we see the disciples’ reaction. “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going.”

I can imagine eleven men clustered on the hillside shielding their squinting eyes from the brilliant sunlight with their mouths all hanging open. Speechless. Marveled. Maybe even a little bit disappointed.

While they were still staring at the sky, two men dressed in white stood with them and asked why they were looking into the sky. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The angelic message rings with the same confidence and celebration as the one delivered on that quiet Easter Sunday morning in the garden. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen! Remember how he told you …” (Luke 24:5-6).

I wonder if the angels at the tomb that morning are the same ones present with the disciples when Jesus ascends to heaven. In a way, their message is bittersweet. It says to the disciples that life won’t be the same as it was before Jesus died and rose again. And now, forty days later, another change has come. Life for sure will never be the same again now that Jesus has left them.

This time of year, just days before Pentecost, I like to ponder this scene from the viewpoint of one of the disciples, especially Peter. Jesus had declared him a rock, the foundation on which the new church would get built. But Peter stands here staring into an empty sky as clueless as the rest of them.

After the angels appeared, Acts reports that the apostles returned to Jerusalem. The trip back to town has the same feel as the intervening time after Jesus’ death until Peter recognizes him on the shore one morning while out fishing. Well, OK. So that was that, Peter must have thought. He may have returned to Jerusalem a bit let down, like a runner with high hopes for setting a record who ended up finishing last.

Acts doesn’t say which disciple asks the question, but it doesn’t surprise me if Peter was one of them who blurted out, “Lord, at this time are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel?”

Behind the question we can hear the exasperation. The disciples left their jobs, followed Jesus through thick and thin, put up with political tensions, and suffered the agony of watching their Teacher and leader endure torture. So now that he’d come back to life and proven he was the real deal, maybe he’d finally get down to serious business and accomplish what the Jews had been waiting on for hundreds of years.

Wrong. Again. They’d asked before, but like this time, Jesus doesn’t answer the question. Instead he poses one of his own with the words, “It’s not for you to know.” Trust me, Jesus asks of them. Believe in God the Father and his power and authority. That is what really matters.

So now Peter is left behind with nothing but questions floating on the wind. He’d heard the angels. He’d seen the miracles. He’d had his feet washed. And now Jesus is gone.

The verse quoted at the beginning of this devotional was spoken by Jesus on the night of the Last Supper. During that meal, Jesus had modeled servant leadership, spoken of betrayal, promised the Holy Spirit, and comforted the disciples with the promise that he would prepare a place for them and then come back to take them with him to his Father’s eternal home.

I wonder if in those moments following Jesus’ ascension Peter remembered the day at the tomb of Lazarus, or the walk to Jairus’ house, or Mary Magdalene’s outrageous story. Jesus’ ascension was the crown and climax of his resurrected life. A whole new dimension of vitality and power awaited him in the place where he was going.

Those words from the Last Supper may have made Peter’s list of memories that day. If Jesus was going to heaven, and when he got there would begin work on a place for Peter, then that meant Peter would join Jesus there ruling and serving, loving and praising, in perfect health and perfect unity forever.

Peter’s promise is our promise. Jesus is already at work preparing a place for us. He is someone like us, a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, able to empathize with our weaknesses, as Hebrews 4 says, pleading our cause in the presence of his Father in heaven. He will send his Spirit to us on earth so that in his power, we make the goal of our lives the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.[1]

Because of Jesus’ ascension, we have a new home.

Because of Jesus’ ascension, we have an audience with the King of Heaven.

Because of Jesus’ ascension, we have the power to look beyond our earthly circumstances.

Because of Jesus’ ascension, the things of heaven are ours. As Paul encourages in Colossians 3, let’s set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Prayer

Almighty God, whose only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven: May our hearts and minds also there ascend, and with him continually dwell. King of glory, do not leave us comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.[2]

---

[1] Heidelberg Catechism question #49.

[2] Collects from the Book of Common Prayer for Ascension Day and the Sunday following.