Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Wednesday, December 2

By Dr. Jeffrey H. Johnson

He Will Be With You

Read Isaiah 43:1-3a

“But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (NLT)

I grew up in the church. I have listened to sermons in church and on the radio, and now on the internet for years. I love hearing the exegesis of God’s Word. Despite having listened to so much material, there are still specific messages I have heard that made such an impression on me that they have become part of me. I remember listening to a message about John the Baptist. We remember the great and lofty things he did in preparation for the Son of God and His ministry. However, we forget that he (John the Baptist) was thrown in prison and eventually beheaded. In Luke 7, two of John’s disciples went to Jesus and asked him if he really was the Son of God? They and John were having their doubts, given the events that were happening to John. Notice that Jesus did NOT drop what he was doing, rush to John, and have him rescued from prison and solve all of his problems. Instead, he instructed John’s disciples to tell John that the people were being served and the Gospel was being proclaimed.

In these difficult days of 2020, are we to abandon our faith in the midst of pandemic, racial tension, and strife in our country? I believe that we are called on to remember that when we go through rivers of difficulty (not if, but when), we will not drown. When we walk through the fire of oppression, we will not be burned up; the flames will not consume us. For He is the Lord, “the Holy One of Israel, our Savior.” Verse 5 of Isaiah 43 says, “I am with you.”

He was with John the Baptist, even in prison. And He is with us today …

Prayer

Father, we understand that your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts. You are God. You are King. You are the Sovereign One. You bridged the gap between God and Man through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of your Son. Thank you for being with us today. Amen.

This devotion was written in honor of the Parish Health Ministry.

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Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Tuesday, December 1, Morning

By Dr. Dwight Wade

Dealing with the Unexpected

Read Luke 1:5-35

 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.  But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.  And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God.

One of Dr. Jim Fleming’s books described Elizabeth and Mary, cousins who faced momentous challenges. In a section called “Turning Points for Mary and Joseph,” he shared many little-known details about Mary and her cousin, Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist.

The aged Elizabeth was unhappily childless. Her elderly husband, Zacharias, was serving in the Jerusalem temple. While in the Holy of Holies, the most sacred space, the old man received an angelic visit promising the birth of a son, whom we remember was to become John. Upon hearing the news, the priest was flabbergasted!“I don’t see how this could be, since we are so old!” he retorted. For this moment of doubt, we’re told Zacharias was struck dumb until his son was born.

Mary, then in Nazareth, was a thoughtful devout youth, engaged to the older Joseph. Also receiving an unexpected visit from the angel, she learned she would also bear a child in a mysterious manner. The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you; the baby born to you will be the Son of God. And the obedient Mary said: “I am the Lord’s servant … May everything you said come true.”

The birthday of our blessed Savior approaches. Today, we also wait expectantly. We wonder just when the unwelcome pandemic will end and when we might once again worship in our sacred space. It seems to me that Advent is all about waiting with patience and hope. And we take our cue from two great women of faith who lived in a very dangerous era, when death from childbirth was the norm. Still, they endured their trials, believing their strength came from the Lord. God’s gift of the Christ Child is worth the wait.

Prayer

Loving God, no matter what trials we may yet face in this present age, remind us that you are always with us. Give us that same assurance and courage exhibited by Mary and Elizabeth, that we might remain a blessing to others this season. Amen.

Dr. Dwight Wade is the Church Street historian and author of Unfinished Journey.

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Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, November 29, Evening

By Rev. Chris Brown

A Time of Hopeful Waiting

Read 2 Peter 3:8-15

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

Near the end of our New Testament is the second letter attributed to Simon Peter directed at an unknown audience. In it, Peter speaks of Christ’s promised Second Coming. And we are reminded once again, as Jesus instructed the disciples in the Gospels and Paul reiterated to the churches in his letters, that God’s timing is not in accord with human expectations. He writes, “… with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.”

Do you ever wonder why some days seem to go by slowly while others feel as if they appear and disappear at breakneck speed? The ancient Greeks had two main words for understanding time: Chronos and Kairos. The first term, Chronos, is the kind of time that moves in a linear direction. Kairos refers to a moment or an event or “a period of time.” It is like when someone says to you, “Hey, do you remember that time…?” The New Testament speaks of Kairos time (84 times) more than it speaks of Chronos time (54 times). Kairos means “the appointed time in the purpose of God,” the time when God acts, or the time when we see God move in extraordinary ways.

This Advent Season, as we participate in holy waiting, we wait in hope and in anticipation for Christ’s promised Chronos return. Furthermore, we celebrate and give thanks for a God that is working in extraordinary Kairos ways and that it is on a “timeline” that goes well beyond our earthly understanding.

Prayer

Lord, grant us patience and understanding in this time of hopeful waiting. Help us to recognize the times in which you have worked and are continuing to work in this world. Amen.

Rev. Chris Brown is a Pastor at Colonial Heights UMC, Kingsport, TN, was raised at Church Street, is a former college ministry coordinator, and Duke Divinity intern.

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