 Your wife Sarah shall bear you a son. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. (Gen 17:19)
Prepare to Listen. Light the 1st purple candle and be still and silent for however long it takes. Pray: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually. Prayerfully Read Genesis 18:9-15 9They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ 10Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ 13The LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” 14Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ 15But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’ Prayerfully Wonder Sarah laughed. Who wouldn’t? She was old and incapable of bearing a child. Even Abraham laughed in disbelief when God told him that Sarah would conceive (17:16ff). Did Abraham ever tell Sarah what God promised them? If not, this was the first time she heard about it. We can’t fault her for laughing in disbelief. We’d laugh too. Despite her laugh, God revealed a great truth. It’s the same truth Mary learned when she wondered how a virgin could conceive. The angel said, “nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk 1:37). Sarah heard it as a question from God: “Is anything too wonderful [i.e., impossible] for the LORD?” It’s a question we too must consider and answer. And, as Brueggemann notes, “how it is answered determines everything else.” [1] If we believe some things are too hard for God, then our God is too small and we’ll refuse to believe God’s radical freedom to be God as God chooses to be God. If we answer, ‘nothing is impossible for God,’ it means we’ve accepted God’s freedom to be God and rejected our attempts to act as god; we’ll accept that the world and all that is in it belongs to God and no other. We’ll fully entrust ourselves to be God, whatever that involves. Sarah’s story is left unresolved. She denies laughing and the LORD said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’ Did she believe then? We don’t know. We do know that her laugh of disbelief didn’t stop the LORD from keeping the promise. Sarah gave birth to a son, Jesus’ ancestor. Prayerfully Reflect How will you answer the LORD’s question today? Your answer is in how you live. Respond in Prayer Almighty Lord, help me grow in believing that you are free to be God as you choose to be God so that I live in complete trust in you. Amen. Live Obediently. Reflect on your answer to God’s question. [1] Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press. 1982, p. 159.
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 Prepare to Listen. Light the 1st purple candle and pray: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually.
Prayerfully Read Genesis 15:1-6 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ 2But Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ 3And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ 4But the word of the LORD came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ 5He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ 6And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. Prayerfully Wonder Once again the LORD appeared to Abraham with a reassuring word: “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” It’s the sort of word some of us would love to hear from God. We think we’d be assured and comforted. But Abraham wasn’t. He protested, complaining about his continued childlessness, so that a slave was his heir. Silence. No response from God, so he repeated his protest. Then the LORD said: “no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” God brought him outside, made him look at the uncountable stars, saying, “So shall your descendants be.” Abraham was silenced. Inexplicably “he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Inexplicable because stars in the sky aren’t proof of a son for this barren man and his barren wife. His belief had nothing to do with human reasoning but rather, as Brueggemann notes, it was based “on a primal awareness that God is God.” [1] The God who possessed power to create the stars would have no difficulty in giving children to an old barren couple. Abraham’s faith was rooted, not in a now-believable promise, but in the One who made the promise. He moved from protest to belief, not by knowledge or persuasion, but by the power of God who causes belief and hope. Prayerfully Reflect Abraham’s faith wasn’t pious acceptance, but hard-fought and argued. Protesting is necessary and acceptable to God. If you need to, be bold and argue with God and see what God will do. Respond in Prayer O Lord your promises remain unbelievable unless you create belief in us. I humbly bow before you, the only One able to change barrenness into fruitfulness, my protests into belief. Amen. Live Obediently. Trust God to turn your protests to belief. [1] Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press. 1982, p. 143.  An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Prepare to Listen. Light the 1st purple candle and be still and silent for however long it takes. Pray: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually. Prayerfully Read Genesis 12:5b-9 and 13:18 When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD. 9And Abram journeyed on by stages towards the Negeb…. 18So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the LORD. Prayerfully Wonder Without hesitation or protest, Abraham [1] left his father’s house in obedience to a vague, “Go to the land that I will show you,” and an impossible promise, “I will make of you a great nation” (12:1). His first stop in Canaan was at “the oak of Moreh” in Shechem, a sacred religious site for the land’s inhabitants. And yet Yahweh, Abraham’s God was there, and again promised, “To you and your offspring I will give this land.” In response, Abraham built an altar to the LORD, alongside the altars to ‘pagan’ gods. His next stop was near Bethel where he built another altar, and “invoked the name of the LORD.” He made public that Yahweh was the God who had his allegiance. Later, God repeated the promises of land and descendants, and Abraham built his third altar to the LORD, alongside the pagan symbols at “the oaks of Mamre.” He didn’t, as Gerald West maintains, “destroy [their religion] or insert his own religion over against it, but [sought] to identify and associate his religion with it. Would that we were as gracious!” [2] Living the promises of Yahweh, as Abraham discovered, wasn’t easy. It meant living with people of different religions and cultures. Abraham is our example, not only of faith, but of a willingness to be good news to those among whom we live. He foreshadowed the gospel, the good news of Jesus, that, as the angels sang, is of “great joy for all people” (Lk 2:10). Abraham lived the good news among the very different residents of Canaan who believed in a very different God. Prayerfully Reflect How can you live with the same gracious acceptance of ‘the other’ as Abraham did? Respond in Prayer Lord, help me live today with the graciousness of Abraham towards others so that they experience you as good news and not as judgment. Amen. Live Obediently. Be gracious to all people today. [1] For name change from Abram to Abraham, see Gen 17:3-5. [2] West, Gerald. Genesis: The people’s Bible commentary. Oxford, UK: The Bible Reading Fellowship. 2006, p. 86.  Prepare to Listen. Light the 1st purple candle and be still and silent for however long it takes. Pray: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually.
Prayerfully Read Matthew 1:1-2a, 16b-18 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah…. 16and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. 17So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. 18Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Prayerfully Wonder “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.” However, that’s not where Matthew begins Jesus’ story. Before we read about his birth, we must first wade through 42 generations, some known only as a name in a genealogy. The long, boring list of names proves Jesus had the right to the titles Messiah and King. It also underscores his very Jewish roots, the rock from which he was hewn. If we wish to know his story, we must, as Philip Yancey maintained, “learn something of his culture, family, and background.”[1] His family tree is a good place to start. Some names on the tree are, to say the least, embarrassing—Judah treated his daughter-in-law, Tamar as a prostitute; Rahab, mother of Boaz, was a Jericho harlot; Ruth, the mother of Obed, King David’s grandfather was a Moabite foreigner; Manasseh, did abominable practices. It seems, God chose to work through unlikely people and thus, Matthew seems to say, watch what else God can and will do; whom God can will use. Then the list ends with a surprise. After all those names of humans, Mary was found to be with child, not from Joseph, but the Holy Spirit. The genealogy that begins the New Testament is our assurance that God keeps promises and God’s purposes will be fulfilled. And, as Wright states, “God still works like this today: keeping his promises, acting in character and yet always ready with surprises for those who learn to trust him.”[2] Prayerfully Reflect Reflect on ways God has surprised you. Respond in Prayer Your family tree, O Lord, has many unlikely characters in it, yet you unabashedly name and own them. Your ways are truly inclusive. Help me be more like you, welcoming to all. Amen. Live Obediently. Watch what else God will do. [1] Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 1995: 50. [2] Wright, N. T. Matthew For Everyone, Part 1. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. 2004, p. 4.  Prepare to Listen. If using the Advent wreath, light the 1st purple candle. Take time to be still and silent for however long it takes. Pray: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually. (1 Chron 16:11)
Prayerfully Read I Chronicles 16:8-13 8O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. 9Sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wonderful works. 10Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 11Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually. 12Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he uttered, 13O offspring of his servant Israel, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. Prayerfully Wonder When David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, he appointed musicians to lead in singing praises to the LORD. The hymn they sang is a selection of verses from three Psalms,[1] skillfully arranged for this special occasion. The Ark was a visible symbol of God’s continual presence. Advent is a journey of preparation to celebrate God’s in-breaking into the world in the very real presence of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. It’s appropriate for us to join the praise and sing, “O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name.” Call on the LORD’s name. This isn’t merely praying to God in times of need or want, as important as that is. To call (or invoke) the Lord’s name means rejecting all other gods and making the Lord “the single referent of life,” as Brueggemann explains.[2] In other words, clinging to no other, be it person or thing, than the Lord who saved us. Calling on God encompasses all of life, not just a part of our life when we’re in need. It means, as the psalmist urged, seeking God’s presence continually, forsaking whatever has our allegiance and takes up our time. We may not worship idols made of material stuff, as Israel was prone to do. The temptation to create images of Jesus that affirm our beliefs and behaviors, is real and sometimes we fall and are slow to repent, give up our old ways. Prayerfully Reflect To whom or what do you give your allegiance? As Advent begins, commit again to calling on God’s name and no other. Respond in Prayer Lord Jesus, I call on your name today and pray for the courage and strength to live a life so that others know you and you alone have my allegiance. Amen. Live Obediently. Call on the name of the Lord. [1] Psalms 105, 96 and 106. [2] Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press. 1982, p. 124.  Most of us don’t often read, much less reflect on Jesus’ family tree, his genealogy even though Matthew’s Gospel begins “the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” That’s followed by a long boring list of names, many unknown to us today. Their stories tell us where Jesus came from and something about who he is. His family tree, much like our own, consists of a motley crew of men and women, some good, some okay and some we’d prefer to hide in the closet. We’ll reflect on a few of their stories as we take the four-week journey of Advent to Christmas. My choice of ancestors from Matthew’s list isn’t random. I’ve chosen people whose stories are told in some detail, all the women named, along with four additional women not named, only one of whom, Naomi, isn’t his ancestor.
Each Sunday of Advent focuses on a psalm of praise from 1st Chronicles 16. It’s an appropriate psalm for Advent as it was sung to celebrate the arrival in Jerusalem of the Ark of the Covenant, the visible symbol of God’s invisible presence on earth. King David appointed Asaph’s family to sing praise to God as the Ark arrived. Their song is a deliberate crafting together of select verses from three Psalms (105, 95 and 106, in that order). The song will prepare us to sing, on Christmas, our own praise for God’s breaking into the world to be present with us. These devotions follow the ancient practice of lectio divina. This is a prayerful reflection on Scripture that requires attentive listening, reading to know what we see, rather than only seeing what we already know. There are six stages. 1st, prepare to listen as you create space to be still and silent, using the verse from the psalm to focus your thoughts. 2nd, prayerfully read the prescribed passage. The reading should be slow and deliberate, savoring every word. 3rd, prayerfully wonder with the provided meditation. 4th, prayerfully reflect using the suggested question as a guide. 5th, respond to Jesus in prayer, either using the one written or write your own. Finally, live obediently, a reminder that we’re to be doers and not merely hearers of the word. Follow these stages if you find them helpful. All biblical texts are from the New Revised Standard Bible. If you would like to support my ministry of devotional writing, you can do so via PayPal or contact me and I can send you alternate information. Thank you. |
AuthorReading my Bible has been central in my life since I received my first Bible at 8 years of age. My decades of reading, studying and teaching the Bible gives my devotions a unique and enriching perspective. Reflecting on Jesus' family tree enriched my understanding of Jesus and the salvation he offers. Archives
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