Welcome to the season of Advent! This month as we journey towards Christmas we are exploring the spiritual discipline of celebration together specifically as it intersects with the themes of Advent- Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. To guide us through this season, I have written a devotional guide that interweaves the spiritual discipline of celebration with the Advent theme for the week. If you would like a printed guide, you can pick one up at church, but I will post the reflections for each week here as well. We begin with Hope this week.
Day 1: Celebrate!
Celebrations. Our lives are punctuated by them like little exclamation points scattered throughout the year. Annual celebrations such as birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays form a steady drumbeat for our lives pulling us from one season to the next. But we also celebrate one time special events such as births, weddings, graduations, and retirements where we come together to recognize a significant life event. Take a moment and list out all the celebrations that punctuate your year.
Which celebrations are your favorite? Why?
How do you celebrate? In other words, what celebratory actions do you take for these various celebrations?
Toward the end of his letter to the church at Philippi Paul writes this: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice!” Take a moment to read his words in Philippians 4:4-7.
Paul does not toss this phrase around glibly, in a pretend everything is fine and put on a happy face kind of way. He is also not saying we must celebrate our suffering and pain. Consider Paul’s life after his conversion for a moment. He endured death threats, imprisonment, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, riots, false teachers, and the list could continue (see 2 Corinthians 11:24-29). Yet he still calls the Philippians to rejoice always, to celebrate! This kind of celebration is gritty, full of the stuff of life- the good, the bad, the mundane. It is rooted in our loving, good, ever-present Creator God who is always worthy of our praise. This is celebration oriented towards God and not ourselves.
How does this invitation to “rejoice always” or “celebrate” strike you?
Spend a few minutes thinking over your current circumstances. What challenges to celebration and rejoicing are you facing right now?
Pray. Talk to God about your current circumstances. Praise him for his presence with you.
Day 2: Faithful Confidence
Hope. This diminutive word packs a punch. Often used interchangeably with the word wish, we use hope to express a wide range of desires- everything from what we desire to eat to our desire for a certain type of weather to our desires for the future. How do you tend to use the word hope? And how do these uses of hope line up with the hope we see on the pages of Scripture?
Read Isaiah 2:1-5. Take a moment and imagine this passage. What image stands out to you?
How does hope show up in this passage? How would you describe it?
Author Mark Oestreicher describes hope this way, “Hope is the faithful confidence that God continues to author a story that moves us from vision to action.” This understanding of hope goes beyond wishing for something that may or may not happen. This hope is a confident expectation rooted in God and his ongoing work in our midst bringing about his good even when life is topsy turvy and the outlook is bleak.
The prophet Isaiah knew something about this kind of hope. He lived and prophesied during a tumultuous period of Israel’s history- the kingdom was divided and Assyria was a constant threat. Look back over Isaiah 2:1-5.
What is the message Isaiah is proclaiming? How would you phrase it in your own words? How would these words bring hope to the people of Judah?
How might these words bring hope to us today?
Take a few moments to reflect on how you have experienced hope like this in your life. Where do you need to lean in to the faithful confidence of God’s continuing work in your life? Spend time talking to God about this. Praise him for his faithfulness, and thank him for his work in your life.
Day 3: Celebrate! Hope
Where do you like to go to connect with God? Perhaps you have a favorite chair or room in your home or perhaps you prefer to connect with God in nature and you have a favorite tree or spot on the beach. I like to call these thin spaces, places where the distance between heaven and earth seems thinner and God feels closer somehow. These are places where we arrive with the expectation that God will meet us. In my home, the couch in my bedroom is a thin space where I meet with God in solitude, but nature is also a thin space for me. I love meeting with God in the midst of his creation with the wind on my face and the roar of the ocean calling my heart into communion with the Lord our Maker.
For the people of Israel, the temple in Jerusalem was their thin space, the place where they would go to meet with God, the place they would go to worship him. And they would go with the joyful anticipation of encountering him there for every pilgrimage festival in their year.
Read the words of Psalm 122:1-4 and Isaiah 2:1-3.
For the psalmist, going to the Lord’s house is cause for celebration for the people of Israel, but in Isaiah’s vision, the house of the Lord will be a place of worship for all people, where all nations can expect to meet with God, learn from him, and rejoice in his presence. And this is cause for great celebration!
When is the last time you rejoiced in God’s presence? How long has it been since you praised him for his presence with you and ongoing work in your life?
Take some time today to dwell with God in a thin space. Reflect on God’s presence with you, and celebrate, rejoice, and praise God that through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we too may worship him on his holy mountain.
Day 4: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
The hymn “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” was penned by Charles Wesley in 1744. Take a few minutes to listen to this hymn today. You can find a number of beautiful recordings on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to music. I am partial to the version by The Arcadian Wild. The lyrics are printed below. As you listen, let the music wash over you drawing you into God’s presence.
Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
How do the words of this hymn speak to you today? Is there a particular line or phrase that stands out to you?
What does this hymn communicate to us about Jesus?
How do the themes of waiting, hope, and celebration show up here?
As you continue through this week, listen to a favorite Christmas album or playlist. Let the music draw you to remember the One we celebrate, and let your voice join with the voices of the angels always rejoicing around God’s throne.
Day 5: Isaiah 11:1-10
As we continue our Advent journey together, we are going to turn our attention to Sunday and our theme for next week- Peace. Today we are going to read Isaiah 11:1-10 meditatively, utilizing an ancient method for reading Scripture devotionally called lectio divina. You will read through the passage several times, slowly, pausing in between for prayer and contemplation. A journal and pen will be useful for this practice.
As we begin today, find a comfortable place to sit, and prepare your heart to connect with God. Breathe deeply, releasing your stress and worry with each exhale, and imagine God’s love filling you with each inhale. Pray something like, “God I am here. Open my heart to your presence.”
Read Isaiah 11:1-10 aloud, slowly and intentionally, trying to hear every word. As you read notice which word, phrase, or image catches your attention. Pause for a few minutes and contemplate what stood out to you. Why might this stand out to you? Write down any thoughts in your journal.
Read Isaiah 11:1-10 aloud again. Listen once more for anything that stands out to you or seems to shimmer somehow. Is it the same or something different? How is your heart stirred? What might God be saying to you through this passage today? Pause here and contemplate these things, writing and praying as you feel led.
Read through Isaiah 11:1-10 one more time. This time as you read, listen for what this passage reveals to us about God and his work in the world. How do you see peace portrayed here? Jot down any further thoughts.
Pray. Respond to God authentically and truthfully, praising him for his presence with you.
Art Attribution: Mike Moyers, “Hallelujah” www.mikemoyersfineart.com
