Reflecting

Posted on by Betsy

This morning I sat in my chair facing the harbor and read several “our family year in review” Christmas letters sent by various friends from far and wide. I love getting these! I appreciate them not only for the ability to catch up on the year’s events, but also for the effort and time they represent. As a writer, I understand the focus that is required write these one-page summaries of the year gone by. I imagine my friends sitting at their computers with fingers hovering over keys, deciding which events to include. I can hear them calling to their spouses, “honey, what month did we go to Chattanooga?” as they reflect and reconstruct a full year’s worth of life. Births, deaths, knee replacements, trips, weddings, etc. are all condensed into a single page of family news.

I think we don’t do that enough. We get so focused on what we have to do just to get through the day and the week ahead, trying to parcel out segments of time to achieve it all, that we don’t allow ourselves the necessary activity of reflection. That is to our detriment, as reflection is a great teacher of truth.

Recently an old and dear friend asked me a question about my personal life that I had alluded to in a devotional. I found myself reflecting on how the situation evolved as I was answering his query. It was interesting for me to read my responses to him. By having the opportunity to reflect on the situation from the vantage point of today, I could see how God was with me at every step as it unfolded. The end result was acceptance and peace, but I confess that it didn’t come easily. But it did come as a result of years’ worth of prayer … not just mine, but others who prayed for me. I am grateful for his interest and grateful for the chance to revisit those emotions and disappointments and remember again how God brought me to the peace I know today.

Advent is a time for reflection. It is a time to claim God’s promises revealed through the prophets and manifested through the Christ child. It is a time to recall why we needed a Savior in the first place. It is a time to tally up the year’s events and activities and consider if we have been spending our days wisely or frivolously.

It is a time to remember.

In this ninth chapter of Isaiah, the prophet does exactly that. He remembers and then he looks ahead … not just to the present reality but to the future hope. In this passage, Isaiah recalls the darkness of the people of Israel in the present time as they were living under Assyrian oppression. He reflects on God’s amazing power in the past when Gideon defeated his oppressors at Midian. He predicts the time when all oppressors’ boots and blood-stained garments will be burned in a victory pyre:

Isaiah 9 (New International Version)

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
    will be fuel for the fire.

Having thus reflected on the years behind, he looks toward the advent of the long-awaited Messiah and rejoices in the justice, righteousness, and peace that the child will bring.

6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

As we let these words sink in today during this final week of Advent, we would do well to turn off our phones, close the laptop for a moment and REFLECT. How was your year? Have you spent your time well this last 12 months? Where did you see and encounter God? How do you want the next 12 months to go?

In the end, what God desires for us is to find peace. When we gather to celebrate the Second Coming, this is what we will finally experience as a world. The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father will come to reign as the Prince of Peace.

May peace be yours today as you reflect, remember, and rejoice. Oh, come, oh come Emmanuel!

Reflections of Light by Michelle Robertson

Family Ties

Posted on by Betsy

My birthday has come and gone, and it was made all the happier by my cousin, who sent a ginormous arrangement of flowers, called me to tell me she loves me, and mailed a beautiful card. She is what remains of my childhood family and her care and attention on my birthday was such a blessing. When you reach the point of your life when your parents and siblings are gone, your birthday can be a harsh reminder of those losses. You know cards won’t come, calls won’t be made, and there will be no immediate family sharing in the celebration of your birth. Then your cousin lovingly steps in and makes up for all those feelings of loss with her beautiful and generous gifts and reminds you of your family ties. How blessed am I!

In our scripture today, we see Paul making the same kind of family ties as he links himself with Jesus. He is proud to be called to be an apostle and relishes the fact that he has been set apart as one who is charged with delivering God’s good news.

Romans 1 (Common English Bible)

From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for God’s good news. 2-3 God promised this good news about his Son ahead of time through his prophets in the holy scriptures.

Paul continues by connecting his family ties through the prophets, and then linked Jesus (and himself) to King David. Jesus was the fulfillment of David’s lineage, placing all of Jesus’ followers in line with Israel’s royalty.

His Son was descended from David. 

Having thus established earthly family ties, Paul reaches heavenward to establish ties to God. In this, we are reminded that Jesus was fully human AND fully divine. The power of the resurrection confirms Jesus’ place in the holy trinity.

4 He was publicly identified as God’s Son with power through his resurrection from the dead, which was based on the Spirit of holiness. This Son is Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Then, in typical Paul fashion, now that he has connected us to God through these various family ties, he charged us to accept our own appointment to be apostles, just as he had done:

5 Through him we have received God’s grace and our appointment to be apostles. This was to bring all Gentiles to faithful obedience for his name’s sake. 6 You who are called by Jesus Christ are also included among these Gentiles.

The assignment is clear. We are descended from royalty and have received a commission to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And there is no better time to do this than Advent. How many churches in your neighborhood are offering special worship services and events this month? Find one, and invite someone to go with you.

I think it was especially clever of Paul to make this kind of appeal to the proud citizens of Rome. He invited them to participate in a worldview that is bigger than even Rome itself, and reminded them that they are dearly loved by God and called to be God’s people:

7 To those in Rome who are dearly loved by God and called to be God’s people.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So are you. You are dearly loved by God, and you are called to be his people. Go, and tell the world!

Family Love by Peggy Bryson

Here’s Johnny!

Posted on by Betsy

People of a certain age will get that reference … you younger folks may need to look it up!

The arrival of John the Baptizer on the scene is always so abrupt. I think this is fitting for a man whose entire raison d’etra was to be abrupt. He liked getting up in people’s grill about their sin and apostasy. His lifestyle was weird, his appearance was startling, and his message was unapologetically austere and forthright: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is HERE.”

Matthew 3 (The Message)

3 1-2 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

3 John and his message were authorized by Isaiah’s prophecy:

Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!

4-6 John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.

His presentation attracted folks from far and wide as though the circus had come to town. Yet when they heard him, the Holy Spirit convicted them about their sin and their need for redemption. John baptized them into a “changed life.”

7-10 When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and flourishing? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.

Like Jesus, John had no trouble calling out the Pharisees and Sadducees for their hypocrisy. What a brood of snakes they were, showing up and showing off with very little to show for it. But in fairness, we have pews filled with people who are the same. Churches are filled with well-dressed folks who ignore the gospel message of God’s love for all people … folks who dress the part but are empty and hollow inside. John calls us all out when we put on airs while neglecting the poor and needy in our community. If our doors aren’t open to the marginalized in our society, we might as well close them. Our lives must change, not our seasonal wardrobes.

11-12 “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

Are you baptized? Do you lead and live a changed life? Jesus came to light a fire in you for the things he is passionate about. And if we turn our backs on that, he will clean house and bounce us to the curb. Everything true will remain before God. May we be found to be people whose lives are green and flourishing in our zeal to live Gospel lives and invite others to come in.

Seasonal Finery by Kathy Schumacher

A Shoot from the Stump

Posted on by Betsy

We are moving into the Advent scriptures that focus on the peace on earth that will prevail when the Messiah comes to reign. I have always loved reading Isaiah in preparation for Christmas. I can hear Handel’s Messiah in his beautiful words of prophecy. In Chapter 11, Isaiah described what will happen to “the proud trees that God will chop down” which he had warned about in Chapter 10. After taking Jerusalem down to the stump, God will send a savior who will lead Israel back to prosperity after Assyria has done its damage. He foretells that a shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse:

Isaiah 11 (Common English Bible)

A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse;
    a branch will sprout from his roots.
2 The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him,
    a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    a spirit of planning and strength,
    a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

Jesse, of course, was the father of King David. Jesus, of course, was from the line of David and so our New Testament glasses allow us to read this as a prophecy about Jesus’ coming. Seeing Jesus through this lens, look how perfectly Isaiah describes our Savior:

3 He will delight in fearing the Lord.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    nor decide by hearsay.
4 He will judge the needy with righteousness,
    and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land.
He will strike the violent with the rod of his mouth;
    by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his hips,
    and faithfulness the belt around his waist.

Indeed, Jesus suffered no fools. When we focus on the gentle baby cooing in the manger, we forget about the radical Jesus who threw money lenders from the Temple steps and delivered many a harsh word against sin and unrighteous behavior. This picture of Jesus reminds us that he won’t play favorites with the rich and that equity for all will be the rule of law. He will be adorned in righteousness and faithfulness.

What will you be wearing this Christmas? As you adorn yourself in party clothes and that special Christmas Eve ensemble, will you also wear the clothes of your Savior and put on righteousness and faithfulness? Are you working for equity among all of God’s people?

Isaiah then turned to the “peace on earth” theme and wrote about the most extreme opposites getting along together. Do you suppose there will be a time when Democrats and Republicans will act this way as well?

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
    and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;
    the calf and the young lion will feed together,
    and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze.
    Their young will lie down together,
    and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
8 A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;
    toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den.
9 They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain.
    The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
    just as the water covers the sea.

Someday, SOME day, we will all be under Jesus’ reign and our differences won’t matter. We will all seek Jesus with our whole hearts, and this stump of Jesse born from a trunk that was cut down due to its arrogance will flourish and grow to lead us as a nation of peoples. And that place will be glorious.

10 On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his dwelling will be glorious.

Oh, come, oh come Emmanuel!

A Branch Will Grow by Becca Ziegler

A Stunning Anthem

Posted on by Betsy

Our first Sunday in Advent at church was a blessing of fine music. We are the happy recipients of an incredible pianist/organist whose unsurpassed keyboard talents set the tone for high and holy worship with the first strike of the keys. I nearly wept after her prelude, which wove familiar hymns such as “Let All Mortal Flesh be Silent” with “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” in intricate chords and dramatic bass notes. I felt that in that singular moment, Christmas had blossomed in my heart.

Music can do that to you.

We were designed for worship and praise. As God knit us together in the womb, he had a plan for his people to be able to come and adore him in harmonies that have only been heard by the angels. I suppose that is why Christmas carols and Christmas songs are so important to this season. They set the stage for the advent of Christ in our hearts and draw us to that angel choir that hovered above his manger at his birth, singing their glorious “alleluias.” God invites us to sing along.

In the fifteenth chapter of Romans, Paul is reflecting on why Jesus came and how we should respond to him. Not surprisingly, he says that we should strive for a maturity of personal harmony with one another that will make us into a choir … “not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem.” What a beautiful image!

Romans 15 (The Message)

3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next.

May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

If we are to be a choir of worshippers who live in harmony, we have a few things to do. First, we must stay true to God’s purposes for his creation, which is to live in peace together. That may mean laying down old grudges, prejudices, and bigotry. Next, we need to invite outsiders in and welcome the insiders to return. As the “choir,” we can be integral in reaching out to welcome one another in love and acceptance for all.

7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:

Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!

And this one:

Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!

And again:

People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!

Ask yourself if you are adding to the harmony of God’s worship or detracting from it. Have you welcomed the stranger into your heart and your home? Are you able to include every aspect of God’s diverse and beautiful world in your worship? Can you invite your neighbor to church this season?

And Isaiah’s word:

There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

I pray that each one of us will do all that we can to share the joy, the peace, and the live-giving energy of the Holy Spirit to an outsider who desperately needs it. Look around … they are in our midst. May we bring the brimming-over of hope to the world this season.

May the God of Green Hope Bring You Joy by Kathy Schumacher

Bleak Midwinter

Posted on by Betsy

Raise your hand if you are among the unfortunate ones who have a December birthday. Those of you born in the other eleven months don’t have a clue. Who else gets “combination birthday/Christmas presents?” Nope, that is reserved for us December babies. I can give you a list of such combo-presents: every bike I ever received, a fancy cowgirl outfit (with boots), a black and white TV for my teenage bedroom … yes, my parents would do the combo thing when they were debating a somewhat expensive present that they were struggling to afford. Bless them!!

On the other hand, I do share a birthday with Walt Disney. I found that out when I was in High School and have always loved it. It makes me happy to share a birthday with a man of his creative genius and genuine expertise in storytelling. Happy birthday to us, Walt!

The most important birthday in December of course is Jesus’ birthday. I had a childhood practice of either staying up past midnight on Christmas Eve or waking up early on Christmas morning to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before the day began. I would look out the window from my bed at 5 Chatham Rd. and see the streetlight shining in the dark and sing to baby Jesus. More often than not, I could see the snow falling on Christmas morning in that light, and snow on Christmas was EVERYTHING. This is possibly the only benefit of growing up in New Jersey.

I wonder what Christmas would look like if we had kept it as just a birthday party for Jesus, instead of the giftpalooza-partypalooza-spendtoomuchpalooza-shoptillyoudroppalooza that it has become. Imagine it: we would wake up, talk about how wonderful Jesus is, plan a nice meal, bake a birthday cake, have the celebration, blow out the candles, and call it a day. And it would truly be just about him.

How can we make Christmas just about Jesus again?

First, we can care about the things that he cares about. The widow, the orphan, the children crying for their parents at our country’s border…he cares about that. Giving to the needy and sharing our abundance is something he cares about. He cares about the people who are ill, in hospital beds, or nursing homes. He cares about things that are lost: souls, marriages, teenagers, car keys, runaway pets, and your will to resist temptation. He cares about the planet his father created.

He cares about YOU.

Micah 6:8 Amplified Bible (AMP)

8 He has told you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you

Except to be just, and to love and to diligently practice kindness (compassion),

And to walk humbly with your God, setting aside any overblown sense of 

importance or self-righteousness?

This Christmas, let us focus on getting Jesus the perfect birthday present. Let us dive deep into his word and grow closer in our relationship with him. Let us stand up for justice, diligently practice kindness, love one another, offer compassion, and be humble before him. Or, as Christina Rossetti once wrote:

What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a Shepherd

I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man

I would do my part,

Yet what I can I give Him,

Give my heart. (In the Bleak Midwinter)

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

In the Bleak Midwinter by Mary Anne Mong

Reverse the Flow

Posted on by Betsy

Our text from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah comes from a time of high anxiety, impatience, and discouragement for God’s people. There was tremendous political infighting. Corruption was widespread. Powerful Assyria had gathered up smaller nations and was headed toward Jerusalem with an eye toward conquering them. Alternate religions infiltrated into the people’s minds, and they turned away from God. In the midst of this crisis, Isaiah had a vision of a united, harmonious Israel, and peace on earth.

Isaiah 2 

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 In days to come
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
    and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3     Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

As we begin the season of Advent, we can easily put on our New Testament glasses and see Jesus in this prophecy. He came to bring peace, unity, and harmony to our hearts. In his second coming, he will bring these things to the world when he reigns from Jerusalem as the Prince of Peace. The second coming is what we are waiting for as we dwell in the marvel of his first coming on earth on that first Christmas morning. Advent is thus a time to reflect, rejoice, and make spiritual preparations for the birth of the Messiah again in our hearts. As the carol says, “Be born in us today!”

Yet many of us will be overwhelmed by the flow of secular Christmas and spend this time overspending, overeating, overindulging, and going over the top in ways that we will pay for all next year. It will take months to shed that credit card debt and those 3-5 pounds many of us will gain between Thanksgiving and New Year. And for what? Is that why Jesus came?

I propose that we work hard to reverse the flow of commercialism and dwell in the light of Christ instead.

A friend of mine told me a remarkable story about her trip to Fort Myers last week to help people whose houses were damaged by Hurricane Nicole. The team was ripping out drywall and wet insulation from a home and the homeowner showed her something amazing. When the house was built, the homeowners went through the house with their kids and wrote Scriptures on the walls. When the flood waters came raging through the house, the water stopped just short of the place on the walls where the Scriptures were written. God’s word remained.

This is a powerful reminder for us today about the power that God’s word has over the flow of destructive forces in our lives. As we spend this Advent season trying to reverse the flow of secular behavior, may we remember to stay anchored in God’s word, which is immovable and unchangeable. If we had to choose just one scripture for this Advent waiting place, it should be Psalm 46: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

This Advent, may we commit to being still in God’s presence!

Be Born in Us Today by Michelle Robertson

Ain’t Gonna StudyWar No More

Posted on by Betsy

Today’s devotional begins in an unusual place. We find ourselves in Nat King Cole’s marvelous song, “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More.”

Gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the riverside
Ain’t gonna study war no more.

refrain

I ain’t gonna study war no more,
I ain’t gonna study war no more,
Study war no more.
I ain’t gonna study war no more,
I ain’t gonna study war no more,
Study war no more.

The origin of this spiritual comes from our Advent lectionary passage found in Isaiah 2. This prophetic word points toward a time when peace and harmony will rule the earth with the coming Messiah. People will take their weapons of war and turn them into instruments of harvest, as the world moves from violence against one another to growing and sustaining one another:

Isaiah 2 (Common English Bible)

4 He shall judge between the nations
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more.

In this season of reflection and waiting, I suggest we work toward finding inner peace. We won’t have outer peace without it and having peace in our hearts is something we can do now as we wait for Christ to return. Do you have peace? If not, try these things:

1. Rejoice in the Lord. 

Phil. 4:4 says to rejoice in the Lord always… not just rejoice occasionally. Not just rejoice when something great happens but rejoice in the Lord always. Making the choice to rejoice in every circumstance brings peace to your soul.

2. React with graciousness. 

Be gentle and forbearing… with everyone. Scripture teaches us that “A gentle word turns away wrath.” Paul says to let your words be seasoned with salt and designed to build up, not to cut down, designed to develop, not destroy, and designed to help, not to hurt. When your graciousness is evident to all, you not only experience peace, but you also give it to others.

  1. Rest in the Lord.

Jesus said: “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” Remembering that Jesus is with you and that you abide in Him will help you rest in Him and experience his peace when you have none. 

  1. Reach up to God in prayer.

Let prayer be your first response, not your last resort. Paul says: “Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 6:7)

5. Reflect on good things. 

The battle for peace is primarily fought in the mind. We must take every thought captive to Christ by meditating on God’s Word. In Phil. 4, Paul wrote: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” 

6. Repent and receive forgiveness.

The Holy Spirit will not let us be at peace when we are holding on to sin, so we must confess, repent, and receive God’s forgiveness. When we confess and repent of our sins, we find an inner peace.

Advent is a season of light. May we walk in the light of Christ as we wait!

5 O house of Jacob,
    come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!

Let There Be Peace on Earth by Michelle Robertson

Peace

Posted on by Betsy

What does the word peace mean to you? Does it include a personal perspective of your spiritual and emotional well-being? Is it an image of a family sitting around a dining table enjoying a meal together without any arguing or hard feelings? Does it indicate a global environment where countries are not at war with each other? I think it is all of that and much more.

When Jesus left this earth, he said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace be with you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). Jesus reminds us that he desires us to have a peace that can come only from a relationship with him. And his peace passes all understanding.

Do you have that kind of peace?

In the 22nd Psalm, we are encouraged to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. If you know the history of the Middle East, you can appreciate what a big ask that is. The psalmist is on a pilgrimage to the spiritual center of his religion and his heart, and his hope are focused on finding that Jerusalem can be a place of peace in the troubled world of conquests and kingdoms. He is excited to go to the temple to worship, and proud of its fortifications and strength:

Psalm 122 (Common English Bible)

 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
    “Let’s go to the Lord’s house!”
2 Now our feet are standing
    in your gates, Jerusalem!

3 Jerusalem is built like a city
    joined together in unity.
4 That is where the tribes go up—
    the Lord’s tribes!
It is the law for Israel
    to give thanks there to the Lord’s name,
5     because the thrones of justice are there—
    the thrones of the house of David!

The halls of justice were located in Jerusalem, as the Hebrew Law made its home within its walls. The people went to this beautiful city on the hill as the law required to pay their alms and tithes at the temple and revel in its beauty. It was a spiritual and emotional home for them.

6 Pray that Jerusalem has peace:
    “Let those who love you have rest.
7     Let there be peace on your walls;
    let there be rest on your fortifications.”

We might take a cue from this and pray for peace in our spiritual homes as well. Do you pray for your church? For your denomination? Is there peace in your pews, or does dissension live there? A pastor friend once said that church was like visiting the sausage factory … everybody loves to eat sausage, but you might not want to know what goes in it. Ever feel that way?

If that resonates with you today, take heart. Every institution made of people is bound to have conflict, differences of opinion, and the occasional (frequent) unpeaceful moment. But never mind all that. Where God is present is the only place to be. We are called to make the pilgrimage despite its flaws. Just remember to pray for peace and never cease to pray for your church’s good.

8 For the sake of my family and friends,
    I say, “Peace be with you, Jerusalem.”
9 For the sake of the Lord our God’s house
    I will pray for your good.

Let There Be Peace on Earth by Michelle Robertson

Weapons of Light

Posted on by Betsy

Last week I had an opportunity to speak with youth parents about their hopes and dreams for our youth group at church. We are in a season of transition and parent buy-in is the thing that will make or break our program. One mother was the parent of a High School senior and was very concerned about her daughter’s last opportunity to connect with a youth group before leaving for college. We talked about needing to arm our kids with Scriptural truths as they go out into the world, and I joked that the kids headed off to colleges especially needed strong faith “weapons of mass destruction” in their suitcases. College can be a time for even the ones who are strongest in their beliefs to wander, and so we want with all our hearts to prepare them through youth group in their high school years.

As I was driving home, I squirmed a little about my use of the phrase “weapons.” I had Ephesians 6 in my mind where Paul encourages us to put on the full armor of God, but I had some post-conversation second guessing about calling faith a weapon. Then I opened up today’s lectionary and read this:

Romans 13 (Common English Bible)

11 As you do all this, you know what time it is. The hour has already come for you to wake up from your sleep. Now our salvation is nearer than when we first had faith. 12 The night is almost over, and the day is near. So, let’s get rid of the actions that belong to the darkness and put on the weapons of light.

Thank you, Paul.

I love this phrase “weapons of light.” Indeed, that is what is needed to go into battle with every spirit and force of darkness, whether that is found in the secular world of a large university or the disfunction of a family or disharmony in at work. We are called to be bringers of the light and use that light as our sword and shield when necessary. In this passage, Paul is warning the Romans that the time and hour to stand up and fight for the Truth was upon them. Is there ever a time when we don’t need to be fighting for the light? I think not. I believe we are in such a time right now.

13 Let’s behave appropriately as people who live in the day, not in partying and getting drunk, not in sleeping around and obscene behavior, not in fighting and obsession. 14 Instead, dress yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and don’t plan to indulge your selfish desires.

This is the week that the holiday season officially begins. Thanksgiving is the first day of a long season of celebration of the light. On Sunday, Advent begins. It is also a time of worry, anxiety, stress, and depression for many. Paul’s reminder of how to behave is spot on for where we are right now … especially the reminder to plan to not indulge our selfish desires! One small piece of pie is much better than three, people! But the central idea of being armed against the darkness shines through this passage.

Where will you experience darkness in this season? Can you bring light into somebody else’s darkness? Is there a particular weapon you need to pick up? Whether its faith, hope, love, gentleness, joy, perseverance, righteousness, truth-telling, etc., grab ahold of it today and carry it with you from now until the new year. Or better, forever.

Dress yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ and he will be your armor.

The Day is Near by Michelle Robertson