Advent begins on Sunday, December 3 when the first of daily meditations about Jesus the Messiah will be posted and continue until Christmas day. These meditations are based on the scripture texts George Frederick Handel used for his much-loved choral work, The Messiah, with additional texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. My prayer is that as you read these familiar and not-so familiar texts your understanding of Jesus as Messiah will deepen and your faith in him be affirmed.
We might think that we, who claim to be Christian, know who Messiah is and what he’s like. But I wonder. Do we really know Messiah? Does our concept of Jesus fit the picture of him in the Scriptures? Or have we distorted his image to fit our desires for a Messiah who agrees with our causes and conforms to our ways? Would we follow the Jesus of the Gospels? Those are the haunting questions I invite you to wonder about this Advent as you daily read Scripture about Messiah. Regardless of what we know or think we know, it’s good for us who claim to be Jesus-followers, to re-examine our views of Jesus in light of Scripture and never more urgent than today conflict in the Middle East and divisiveness among God's people on how to respond. Join me this Advent and prayerfully reflect on some of the biblical passages about Messiah. Come with a desire "to know Jesus more clearly, to love him more dearly and follow him more nearly day by day."[1] Come with a willingness to be surprised, challenged and transformed. There are six stages to these devotions which you may follow if you find them helpful. 1. Prepare to listen. Give yourself time to be still and silent, ready to receive God’s Word. 2. Prayerfully read the prescribed passage. The reading should be slow and deliberate, savoring every word. 3. Prayerfully wonder using the provided meditation. 4. Prayerfully reflect using the suggested question as a guide. 5. Prayerfully respond, either using the written prayer or writing your own. 6. Live obediently, a reminder that we’re to be doers and not merely hearers of the word. All Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise stated. [1] The prayer of St. Richard of Chichester. You’re welcome to copy this introduction and any of the daily devotions, but please ask first.
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