Category: Advent

Advent Devotional • December 7

Posted on by Kymberly

Saturday, December 7

Written by Peter Wall
First Congregational Church of Fresno
Isaiah 8:17

“I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.” —Isaiah 8:17

As a child, having been taught that God is everywhere, and that God loves everyone, it would have scared me to think that God might hide. As an adolescent straining to break free from the burdens of tradition, I would have reveled in a hiding God as
license to challenge the people who claimed to speak for God. As a younger adult with a demand that be God subordinated to logic, the hiddenness of God would have been evidence to me that God was either malicious (and therefore unworthy of devotion), or incoherent (and therefore nonexistent).

Now, at whatever age I am, I think of the opening lines of Dante’s Inferno:

Midway upon the journey of our life
  I found myself within a forest dark,
  For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

And I recognize the words of the prophet Isaiah for the poetry that they are.

The light changes. What seemed certain a moment ago is hazy now. But here we still are, passing through the gloam, unable to see, and remaining on the journey, even when the pathway is lost. How? By hope, which is not mere optimism, or sheer
determination to put one foot in front of the other. Hope is more rigorous than that:

“Hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion … hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretension of the present, daring to
announce that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question.” (Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination (2nd ed.), p. 65.)

Hope like that can change the world.

 

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You can download a PDF of the devotional here.

Advent Devotional • December 6

Posted on by Kymberly

Friday, December 6

Written by Christopher Williams
First Congregational Church of Fresno
Romans 13:11-14

 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

In this passage Paul is giving Christians a “wake up call”, telling us that the long night is over and that the morning approaches. Paul is speaking figuratively and not suggesting that Christians must become morning people (much to the relief of several Christian friends I know). Paul is saying that as Christians we need to set aside the things that make our spirit unclean, literally calling out the sins of drunkenness and sexual immorality. If we are to make a better world or a paradise as the one that Christ has promised us then we must work towards purity of spirit. God sent humanity His son as an example of what each of us is capable of achieving. To hear the gospel, ignore it, and wonder why God hasn’t given us a shiny new planet to live on is pure folly.

When Paul says “the night is nearly over; the day is almost here”, he isn’t referring to humanity being whisked off to some kingdom in the clouds but is instead giving
humanity the instructions on how to create such a world here on earth. If we clothe
ourselves “with the Lord Jesus Christ” and perform His works rather than those of a malevolent nature then we will only bring about our salvation and the salvation of
humanity.

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You can download a PDF of the devotional here.

Advent Devotional • December 5

Posted on by Kymberly

Thursday, December 5

Journal
Micah 5:2-5

The Ruler from Bethlehem

But you, O Bethlehem
of Ephrathah,
   who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
   one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
   from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
   when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
   to the people of Israel.

And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
   in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
   to the ends of the earth;
and he shall be the one of peace.

   If the Assyrians come into our land
   and tread upon our soil,
we will raise against them seven
shepherds
   and eight installed as rulers.

Read the above text from Micah 5:2-5. What stands out to you? What questions do you have? Do you find hope within the text? What other feelings do you experience?

Feel free (but not obligated) to share your response in the comments.

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You can download a PDF of the devotional here.

Advent Devotional • December 4

Posted on by Kymberly

Wednesday, December 4

Written by Kim Williams
First Congregational Church of Fresno
Mark 13:33-37

“Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

What does keeping awake mean in an age of 5-Hour-Energy shots? How can we stomach staying alert and filled with anticipation when we’re not given a tracking number, nor can we watch the progress of the coming of our God on an app on our phones—Oh Good! Just 4 stops away!

The work of alertness has been conquered, commodified, by our packed schedules, tight deadlines, and quad shot espressos. The earnest discomfort in sitting with what feels like a perpetual wait is difficult for us to access because it is, well, uncomfortable. To think about always being on because God might be around the corner, showing up without so much as a courtesy text so I can vacuum up the pet hair from my sofa, is a disruption to the semi-carefully curated “I’ve totally got my stuff together” lifestyle I depict. But that’s the point.

Staying alert is a practice that takes practice, and keeping our hopes up when it feels like we’re waiting in perpetuity is counter-intuitive. It is our task to live our lives in the most loving way we are able, and to stay vigilant. Because this wait is worth it, even if there’s no app to tell us how much longer.

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You can download a PDF of the devotional here.

 

Advent Devotional • December 3

Posted on by Kymberly

Tuesday, December 3

Written by Rev. David Klingensmith
First Congregational Church of Fresno
Isaiah 2:1-5

Hope is a strong force within us, stronger even than emotion. Children hope for Santa to come, people coming to the US in caravans hope for a brighter future, gay and trans people hope for equality, persons diagnosed with cancer or other serious illnesses hope for a cure.

Hope can cause us to endure more than we ever thought we could imagine. People go through chemotherapy and radiation sustained by hope. Jews in concentration camps persisted in hope that they would be liberated.

The picture that Isaiah painted showed a place where swords would be beaten into plows, spears into pruning hooks, a place where there would be no more wars, only peace would prevail. Everyone would seek to walk in God’s way.

When we look at our world that is filled with war and hate, discrimination and disease, do we have hope, too, that one day all will be peace, health and equality? It is easy to become discouraged and cynical. But hope can also be a great motivator. We can work for peace, healing and equality in our communities and beyond.

In this Advent season, may we be open to the ways God teaches us and may we walk in hope the path God sets for us.

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You can download a PDF of the devotional here.

 

Advent Devotional • December 2

Posted on by Kymberly

Monday, December 2
Written by Rev. Dr. Norman Broadbent
First Congregational Church of Fresno
Romans 15:4-13

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by
steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel for Jews and Gentiles Alike

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,
   and sing praises to your name’;
and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
   and let all the peoples praise him’;
and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A colleague of mine tells of a time she was offering a mid-week Advent service at a retirement home. During the service, which drew on this particular passage, one woman quietly repeated over and over, while staring into space, “I love you and you love me. I love you and you love me.” My colleague thought this was a lovely and appropriate refrain for our worship.

But suddenly they were interrupted by another resident, who stood up and said loudly and angrily, “I have a lot of questions.” This stopped my colleague in mid-sentence who answered, “I have a lot of questions too. What are your questions?” She shot right back, “God made all these promises to the Jews. What happened?”  Furthermore, she revealed that she was dying of cancer. She needed to know whether God could be trusted in the face of a terrible present and an uncertain future. She needed hope. So do we all – not sentimental optimism about the future, but a strong confidence in the sovereignty and goodness of God, even and especially in the midst of tragedy.

Today’s passage, arguably the climax of Paul’s letter to the Romans, begins and ends with hope, and it gives the character of God as the basis for that hope. In v. 5, “the God of
steadfastness and encouragement,” to whom scripture witnesses, gives hope. In v. 12 the Gentiles hope is  in the Messiah from the line of  David (God’s promise to the Jews), and in v. 13, the final and familiar blessing sums up the passage, and indeed, the letter as a whole: “May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”  So let it be for us all.

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You can download a PDF of the devotional here.

Advent Devotional • December 1

Posted on by Kymberly

Sunday, December 1

Written by Rev. Raygan Baker
First Congregational Church of Fresno
Matthew 24:4-13

Many people have said it before, but the Drag Queen Chi Chi Devayne says it with the most conviction: “I don’t get ready, I stay ready.” While the season of Christmas
Consumerism may keep triumphantly entering the economy earlier and earlier, but it is only now that Advent quietly arrives. And just because we busy ourselves with many Christmas preparations and celebrations doesn’t mean we are actually observing Advent. Sometimes we emphasize the anticipation that Advent brings as primarily calling us to patiently wait for Christ’s birth. But Advent isn’t just about waiting, it is about “arriving:” the literal* definition of Advent. We don’t need to do anything to make Christmas happen. It is already arriving, whether we are ready or not. 

Sometimes we enter into the Advent and Christmas season by looking backward: to the prophets and the promises from so long ago, the Christmas plays and pageants that take our imaginations to first-century Israel (or at least how think it may have looked), and our own treasured church and family memories, but Jesus won’t let us confine the good news of great joy to the past. Instead, we begin Advent with the promise of Christ’s return. This is the Good News: God is not done with us yet. The promise of God’s relentless presence with us still stands, and invites us into a very active vision of hope. The vigilance Jesus calls his disciples to is an invitation to live fully into the world now. 

As you take a sacred moment to pause this season, where do you see the Good News arriving around you? Where do you see that Good News is most needed? Ready or not, I pray that this Advent and Christmas surprise you. 

* And by “literally” I actually mean “literally.”

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You can download a PDF of the devotional here.

 

December 25 | Advent Devotional

December 25 | Advent Devotional

Posted on by Kymberly

From Charles Ray Barrett
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Luke 2:15–20

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men upon whom his favor rests.”

Advent!

There was a time, before cell phones, when I was with my Reconnaissance Platoon (First Battalion, Thirty-Fifth Infantry, Fourth Infantry Division,) in Vietnam’s western Plieku Provence. My guys and I were following some enemy unit trying to figure out where they were going, and how many there were.

The night of October 26–27, 1969, was still and a little tense as we went into the perimeter defense in two locations per standard operation procedures. We did not know how far we were behind them, and, therefore, how close or far they were from us.

My shift with the radio ended about 2 am. I gave the good old A/N PRC 25 radio to Platoon Sergeant Homala for his shift, and stretched out right next to my “slit trench” foxhole for my turn at “shut-eye.” My wife Midge and son Mark were half a world away. She was near term with our second pregnancy. (That pregnancy was my family “DNA Insurance Policy” in case I was “greased” in the field. I had suggested the name “Sean” in a letter to her recently.)
Somewhere between 0400 and 0500 hrs. Homala shook me awake and handed me the handset with a terse, “Hey, LT! Battalion wants to talk to you,” and he puts the handset right in my hand. Through the fog I exchange groggy call-signs and hear, “Stand by for groups.” This meant that the boys in the Tactical Operations Center at the “Firebase” are going to transmit an encoded message in the nighttime to a lowly Platoon Leader in a lonely but quiet ridge in the jungle.

It also meant that I had to slide into that fox-hole, find my poncho to cover up, then rummage the bottom of my rucksack to find my green, right angle GI flashlight, and see if I still had a red filter for the stupid thing as I wondered, “Whose stupid idea is this?”

That was not all! I had to find that dumb little notebook and that pencil! I know that I still have a pencil! “Where is that pencil? I got a pencil! I know it.”

Found it!

Must be pretty important. This was so unusual, that I was a bit frightened by the implications.

“One Three, this is Five-Three! Send your groups!” (“This” I thought, “better be a pretty important message.”) IT WAS!

When unscrambled, the message read “The American Red Cross is pleased to inform Lieutenant Charles R. Barrett, United States Army, that on October 25th at 8:30 AM in Fresno California his wife Margaret Barrett, gave birth to a heathy baby boy. Mother and child are doing well. Congratulations”

DNA Insurance!

Now we were not exactly watching for sheep out there, but there was another time in Palestine where some other men were in another field doing just that.

Luke 2:3–14 describes the Angel of the Lord appeared to some other fellas in the field. Those guys were also scared. They didn’t know what to expect either.

They did not need to be scared. The message was all good. The message is still good – in fact, it’s the best!

The message to those fellas on that starry night was: “Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you.”
This scared them at first, just like that message from headquarters coming at night and in code scared me, at first. But both messages, as it turned out, wound up being very good. Very good indeed!

Eternal Life Insurance!

December 24 | Advent Devotional

December 24 | Advent Devotional

Posted on by Kymberly

RePresentations: An Advent Meditation
From Ara Guekguezian
First Congregational Church
Matthew 1:18–25

In a broken world, we hunger for wholeness, for unity, for shalom. We pursue it with varying degrees of passion and commitment. It remains elusive. Why, in spite of our “best” efforts? We, in the United States, are reminded about this every two years though our election process. “Let us put all the acrimony of the campaign aside and work together.” “After what you said about my mother? When Hell freezes over!”

The relationship, if there is one, is broken. There is a call from the one in power to let bygones be bygones. There is an invitation to come into my tent. But all the good seats are taken. Even among the gracious, there is pain and hostility lingering under the surface that breaks through at the slightest provocation, continuing to remind all of the space between. Sometimes the distance is small, just across the aisle. Other times the chasm is so wide we cannot see the other side.

We suffer as families, in neighborhoods, in our province or state, in our nation, in our world, and even in our congregations, denominations, and the Church.

In this space comes out God. The One who calls us to repent, to turn back to the source of all being, our being, COMES to us. We have heard, “come to me all who are heavy laden…”, and yet if we witness what has happened and what is happening, what is done, we see that God has come in the flesh to all those who are heavy laden. In the person and work of Jesus, beginning with the incarnation, the birth of the child to Mary and Joseph, God has come to us. To repent, to turn back, to go across the aisle, to get across the chasm, we just have to turn around, and there is the healing, the bridge, the Source, our God.

After the turn, then we see, hear, and are called to “Follow Me”. The ones who have turned, now have the joyful and challenging call to be the re-Presentation of Jesus, Emmanuel (God is with us) to the broken ones in this broken world. We are not to invite people into the tent from our seat at the table, but we are to go outside, cross the aisle from our position of comport, of wealth, of power, to the ones who are in need, in pain, grieving, imprisoned, addicted, enslaved, broken, and walk with them as they turn to the Light and start on the Way.

As faithful followers there are signposts on the way, not only a well-worn checkbook or a worn out donate key on the computer, but a passport in need of additional pages. During this Advent season, as we prepare to receive the Christ child anew, step out of our glorious settings at home and in the Sanctuary of the Lord, and be a representative of the One who comes in the flesh.

Prayer: Holy Lord, as You have come into this dirty, disordered, and broken world, fill us with the Holy Spirit that we may have the courage and will to come into the places where Your children need to see You again. Amen.

To download the full devotional, click here.