Daily Advent Devotional

Week One November 30, 2022 Love Wins Isaiah 54:1–10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10 In this scripture, the Holy’s love becomes steadfast, overcoming the stories of “divine wrath” that make up parts of the Hebrew bible and Holl...

Week One November 29, 2022 The Hope of Repeated Promises Genesis 9:1–17 “…When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the Earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:16-17 Earlier chapters of Genesis s...

Week One November 28, 2022 Restoration Genesis 8:1–19  God did not forget Noah and all the animals in the ark, and sent a mighty wind over the earth so that the waters began to subside. The springs of the Deep and the windows in the heavens were closed up. The rain from the heavens stopped. The water covering the earth gradually dropped, until at the end of 150 days it was gone. Genesis 8:1-3...

Week One November 27, 2022 A Familiar Place Psalm 122 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Psalm 122:1 Familiar, from the Latin, “belonging to a family, of a household, intimate. Also, famulus, family; familia, household servant. I like to attend worship. It is familiar and it always feels like home. During seminary I served as the associate minister at First Chri...

Week Four December 25, 2021 Christmas Day: Life  John 1:1-14 What has come into being through him was life… the light for all people. John 1:4 John’s Gospel opens its presentation of Jesus with a communication metaphor, the Word. And it employs the Hebrew Bible paradigm of Wisdom the communicator.  The Hebrew Bible, notably Proverbs chapter 8, presents Wisdom as a female figure who exist...

Week Four December 24, 2021 Good News for the Working Class Luke 2:1-20 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” Luke 2:15 Sheep are very dependent animals and require all of their daily needs to be provided. Since they don’t have a strong surviva...

Week Four December 23, 2021 Mary’s Song in Troubled Times Luke 1:46b–55 [G*d] has come to the aid of Israel, his child, a reminder of mercy. Luke 1:54 (Common English Bible) Life can bring about uncertain times when it is difficult to recognize G*d’s love. The pressures of life can bombard our senses as we anticipate end-moments, those times when pain ends, and dominance is achieved. Interpretatio...

Week Four December 22, 2021 An Inclusive Faith Ephesians 2:11-22 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near…. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household. Ephesians 2:17, 19 As we near the culmination of the celebration of Advent, the juxtaposition of today’s Hebrew and C...

Week Four December 21, 2021 Life in the Darkness Romans 8:18-30 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? Romans 8:24 Today is the Winter Solstice. In the northern hemisphere it’s the darkest day of the year. Sometimes I think darkness gets a bad rap. The fact that the church picked this time of the year as Jesus’ birth is not a coincidence. Chri...

Week Four December 20, 2021 Praise the LORD Psalm 113 Praise the LORD! Praise, O servents of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time on and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high...

Week Four December 19, 2021 A Song of Love and Justice Luke 1:46-55 “My Soul Magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor upon his servant.... He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:46-48, 52-53. The Magnificat has become one of the mos...

Week Three December 18, 2021 A Roller-Coaster Season Isaiah 66:7-11; Luke 13:31-35 The sound of an uproar from the city!...The sound of the Lord repaying his enemies what they have earned. Isaiah 66:6 (Common English Bible) The Advent season is not for persons who want only “ups” in life. Take Lucy Van Pelt of Peanuts fame. She complained to Charlie Brown, “Why can’t my life be all ‘ups?’ If I wan...

Week Three December 17, 2021 Remembering and Persevering!  Hebrews 10:32-39 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. Hebrews 10:35 (NIV) We have heard of stories of people who have waited for loved ones to return from a journey or an assignment and what a joy it is when they finally receive them back. We have also heard of some people who have unfortunately given up “...

Week Three December 16, 2021 Embodying the Covenant Jeremiah 31:31-34 “I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33b The text contains some of the most familiar words of this prophetic book. Jeremiah is speaking to the exiles in Babylon and envisioning the future that God intends for them. T...

Week Three December 15, 2021 Sacred Autonomy Micah 4:8-13 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand his plan… Micah 4:12a A common trope in novels, television, and movies is the damsel in distress. A woman, usually young and beautiful, is captured by an evil villain who threatens her life and virtue, thus enticing the hero, usually a young and equally beautiful man, int...

Week Three       December 14, 2021 Where Faith Leads Numbers 16:20-35 …when the ground under them burst asunder, the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions. They all went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them… Numbers 16:32-33 (Jewish Study Bible) What a satisfying ending to an...

Week Three December 13, 2021 Korah’s Rebellion Numbers 16:1-19 And the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation. Numbers 16:19b  Whichever word you use for it — incarnation, real presence, embodiment — a central theme for Advent and Christmas is how the human Jesus reflects the work of God in a flesh-and-blood world. The next question, then, is how and where this holy work manifes...

Week Three December 12, 2021 Extended Warranty Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4 If you are a mainline, Protestant person of a certain age, you likely have a tune going through your head about now. “Rejoice… rejoice… and again I say, rejoice.” You may also be hearing that music as a round that will take a while to exit your brain. You may also...

Week Two December 11, 2021 Second Kind of Faith Luke 1:57-66 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” Luke 1:60 Faith is tricky. For some, faith comes easily, a childlike trust that God is always there, a belief that God hears every prayer, a certainty that God has a plan about everything. For others, faith is more difficult, like trying to grasp a handful of fog or see the wind. It’s t...

Week Two December 10, 2021 Cheerful Giving and Receiving Amos 8:4-12 and 2 Corinthians 9:1-15  Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15 Has shopping for Christmas presents ever felt more like a grudging obligation than a joy? I have to confess that most years at least some of my gift-giving feels compulsory rather than cheerful. I admire my few, brave, counter-cultural...

Week Two December 9, 2021 Faith Leads Us to Peace Isaiah 12:2-6 Yes, indeed— God is my salvation. I trust, I won’t be afraid. God- yes God!— is my strength and song, best of all, my salvation! Isaiah 12:2 (The Message) At first glance, you feel the peace presented in this joyful song, but the prophet Isaiah shared these words in a world full of doom and gloom. The people of Judah had struggles, fe...

Week Two December 8, 2021 A Hope Filled Longing for Joy Isaiah 35: 3-7 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt...

Week Two December 7, 2021 Someday At Christmas Isaiah 19:18-25 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together…The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel, my inheritance.” Isaiah 19:23, 25 (NIV) Someday at Christmas,...

Week Two December 6, 2021 A Word of Comfort Isaiah 40:1-11 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8 I used to work at a summer camp. During training, we would rehearse a list of values and principles that would guide our work together. Most of them have faded from my memory but one embedded itself in my life: When confronted with changes big and...

Week Two December 5, 2021 Work in Progress Philippians 1:3-11 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 My mother is an artist. All my life I have been in an artistic environment, within a family of artists. I spent most of those early years around my mother’s art and watching her paint. Artists see...