2nd Friday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Friday                             John 1:12-14

                             The Word Made Flesh

Words sometimes drive me crazy!

I’ve learned to use them,

to communicate thoughts,

feelings,

emotions,

ideas.

But words can be so misused,

and so noisy.

Television blaring,

radio blasting.

Commercials which insult our intelligence,

assault our contentment,

assail our values.

Whoever said,

“Sticks and stones may

 break my bones, but

 words will never hurt me,”

lied!

Yet what did God do?

Came to us,

“Word made flesh,”

John said.

Jesus came,

in the midst of our wordiness,

to utter the single Word most needed in our lives:

the divine “Yes!” to our very existence.

O Lord:

Words fill up our time, our lives, our space.  Yet words are so often empty, or hurtful, or filled with loneliness.  Help us to be open to your Word of life and love in our lives.  Refill and renew us, we pray; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

2nd Thursday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Thursday                            John 1:1-5

                            The Light of the World

I once went “spelunking.”  Don’t worry about rushing to your dictionaries.  I’ll tell you what it means.  It means “cave exploring.”  This was not a guided tour of Meramac Caverns or Mammoth Cave.  My venture in spelunking was in a real cave -- to which you hiked, where you got down on all fours to crawl inside, where you tied a rope at the cave’s mouth so you could find your way out again.

By best estimates, we meandered about three-quarters of a mile back inside the cave.  We were about out of rope, so we sat down.  Then, just to see what it was like, we turned off our flashlights.  The presence of the darkness was overpowering.  You could almost feel its cloak.

After what seemed like an hour (but was only probably 30 seconds!), flashlights popped back on.  We all -- collectively, instinctively -- took a deep, cleansing breath.  LIGHT!  We could see where we were.  We could feel safe and secure.  We could find our way out.

Jesus is the Light of our world.  And as St. John put it so well: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  Thanks be to God!

God:

We see it all around us . . . hatred instead of love, hurt instead of healing, doubt instead of faith and trust, despair instead of hope, darkness instead of light.  Help us to be instruments of your Son, our Lord, in shining a ray of light into the lives of those around us; in His name we pray.  Amen.

2nd Wednesday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Wednesday                       Isaiah 9:6-7

                          Justice and Righteousness

The world is not always fair.

I think someone forgot to tell me that.

I expected that

if you are good, you’ll get good in return;

if you are nice, people will be nice to you;

if you smile a lot, people will like you.

So who wanted to hear about

injustice?

intolerance?

bigotry?

hatred?

No, those were ugly words used to describe

even uglier deeds;

and no one knew what to do about them.

Except God.

Along comes a Child,

who will usher in a kingdom

demonstrated by what we most want:

justice and righteousness,

to make things fair.

The kingdom of God is yet to come

in its fullness and richness . . .

but it’s already begun here,

whenever we pray

“Thy kingdom come,

 Thy will be done.”

O Lord:

We long for fairness in our world, and are both saddened and angered when people act unfair or unkind.  Keep us hopeful that your kingdom has already come in Jesus Christ, and that your kingdom will someday come in its fullness; for we pray as Jesus taught us:  Our Father, . . .

2nd Tuesday of Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Tuesday                               Isaiah 9:6

                                   Prince of Peace

Prince of Peace:

How we need you in our world today!

Families are broken,

relationships are endangered.

Come, Prince of Peace!

People live in ghettos,

yet we are surprised when they riot.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Nations teach warfare,

and preach with weapons of destruction.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Peoples’ bodies are hurting,

their souls need healing.

Come, Prince of Peace!

We’ve not learned to share our abundance,

so people starve while we go on diets.

Come, Prince of Peace!

Lord Jesus Christ,

Divine Prince of Peace:

We need you now in our world.

Do not tarry much longer.

Amen!

2nd Monday in Advent

2nd week in Advent -- Monday                                Isaiah 9:6

                                      Mighty God

In the old days,

people worshiped other gods:

Molech, god of fire

Baal, god of the mountains

Ishtar, goddess of fertility.

But we’re more sophisticated now.

We don’t worship statues,

or natural wonders,

or mysteries in the universe.

We make sophisticated gods,

more subtle and wondrous:

power

money

leisure --

things to which we give our time,

for which we spend our energy

and resources.

But gods are gods, aren’t they?

Yet along comes Jesus,

whose name is Mighty God,

as if to remind us

that there really are no other gods.

Only illusions.

God of our life:

Forgive us, for we often join with the Hebrews of old and search for new gods to worship.  Forgive our idolatry.  Help us, especially during this Advent season, to worship you, and you alone, with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind; in Christ’s name we pray.  Amen.

1st Saturday in Advent

1st week in Advent -- Saturday                                Isaiah 9:6

                                   A Child Is Born

A baby . . .

wondrous,

adorable,

cuddly,

oohs and ahs,

a bundle of love.

A baby . . .

smelly,

noisy,

confusing,

wet and dirty,

a bundle of "What now?"

All the splendor and miracle,

the joy and perplexity

of life are packaged

in the newborn.

All the Awe,

Miracle,

Wonder, and

Love of God

come to us,

packaged in the ancient words

of Good News:

"For to us a child is born,

to us a Son is given . . ."

Creator God:

In the stillness of night you came and created a new thing -- Your own self, born of a woman, to redeem and save us all.  How wonderful and mysterious and loving are your ways.  We thank you for the simple gift of a child, for the amazing Gift of the Child, Jesus; in whose name we both live and pray.  Amen.

1st Friday in Advent

1st week in Advent -- Friday                                   Isaiah 9:4

                               The Shattered Yoke

The yoke --

symbol of hard labor,

oxen=s jobs.

The yoke --

symbol of slavery;

symbol of tyranny.

You try,

but you cannot escape it.

The yoke --

heavy,

overbearing,

seemingly impossible to remove.

Yet God does the impossible --

lifts the yoke like a pencil,

shatters it with ease,

splinters everywhere.

And we look in amazement

at the splinters lying still.

How could it have been so heavy?

God with us --

Immanuel --

shatters yokes every day,

taking burdens too long carried

off of shoulders too long stooped.

Ah, the feel of freedom!

O Lord:

We come to you at times carrying what seems to be the weight of the world on our shoulders.  We carry with us hurts from long ago, fears that reside deep within us, resentments that burn and fester.  Take from us the yoke that is too heavy to carry, and stand with us in the new day of freedom; in the name of Jesus, our Lord and liberator.  Amen.