December 13-Lk. 3:7-18 wasn't read in church today, but it is part of the lectionary on john the Baptist as the opens who prepares the way for Jesus.. The Baptist talks social justice in v. 10, even the poor should share with one another clothing and food. In v. 18 Luke says he preached good news, gospel. It sounds  fairly strict. How was it good news? For whom was it good news? What good news should we, who are more comfortable, hear? What do you need to hear?

 

Monday-Calvin on Lk. 2:7-"When Jesus was thrown in a stable, and placed in a manger, and a lodging refused him among people, it was that heaven might be opened to us, not as a temporary lodging, but as our eternal country and inheritance, and that angels might receive us into their abode." I don't generally see Calvin as someone appreciative of irony, but here it is. If I read him correctly, he wants us to use the Nativity scene as a starting point, not a goal for our spiritual lives.

 

Tuesday- When to be tender, when to be tough? I am thinking of Zechariah speaking of God's tender mercies. It is a matter of the art of discernment when to demonstrate tough love and when to be tender. Pushed too far, or using one at the wrong time, can have effects opposite of what we desire.We probably would do well to keep those sides in balance as we look at god's dealings with us, even as they seem to lean toward the tender side.

 

Wednesday-We don't know if Bethlehem had inns at the time of Jesus. The word, kataluma, has the sense of way station or rest area, a break from the journey. The word appears in the infancy story but also at the end of the life of Jesus, where it is the "upper room" of the Lord's supper. In the first use, no room was to be had. In the second, Jesus opens up room for everybody.

 

Thursday- As you know, I look to children's books for worship time with young people. here's a quote from a new one, Voices of Christmas by Nikki Grimes on Anna. "I have welcomed the serene routine of prayer, fasting, and worship in the temple for sixty years....I glimpse his sparkling eyes and my withered hand flies to my chest." Anna waited a long time to see the embodiment of the hopes of Israel. Here the prophet sees the present reality of God's plans coming into sharp focus.

 

Friday-Lots of people set up Christmas decorations right after thanksgiving this year. So, it makes it harder to deal with Advent themes of preparation for Christmas when the culture has Christmas songs going before Advent even starts. the trick is in not letting the decorations take over the spirit of the season. How do we combine the yearning of a child for Christmas into a spiritual yearning for a better world? A Christmas gathering acts as a foretaste of the spiritual joy of Christmas.

 

Saturday- From a poem in Weavings, Heather Murray Elkins on the Magnificat (Mary's great prayer in Lk. 1). ""Nothing's as soft as a young mother's song/ Who but God could trust it/ to sustain creation with a thin thread of breath?/...Nothing's as strong as a young mother's song/ vowels of the gospel start her. Think of the enormous risk god was taking in entrusting the Savior of all to a young woman from Nazareth. think of the risk for continuing creation God gives to each of us with children. Imagine Mary singing a lullaby to baby Jesus. Imagine Jesus singing a lullaby to us.