December 6-Let's deal with one of our neglected readings from today, Phil. 1:3-11. It's a good reading for the time after Thanksgiving, as Paul says that he tanks God for the church there. . Look at v.6 about the completion of good work in you on the day of Jesus Christ. Notice that Paul transform the day of the Lord from the OT into the day of Jesus Christ with no fanfare. For whom are you thankful in your life? Do you tell them that? Who is thankful for your life? Are you told? 

 

Monday- Calvin on Mt. 1:20 when Joseph is considering his position: "We see at this very point that God aids his people.When it appears that God does not observe our cares and distresses, we are under his eye. How slow or late God's assistance may be thought to be, it is for our advantage that it is delayed."

 

Tuesday-Our resistance to seeing Jesus as fully human is revealed when we think of him as a child. We may stumble on young Jesus learning to walk and talk and read. Somehow we figure that the divinity within obviated the need to learn those things. It is good to read the hymn in Phil. 2, where "Christ emptied himself." We can ever come to grips with the reality of the Incarnation, of two natures and one person somehow being integrated, but it is certainly worth prayerful consideration.

 

Wednesday-We don't have many Advent hymns, but look at verses 2 and 3 of O Come Emmanuel (God with us Is 7:14). " O come thou Dayspring (Job 38:12, Lk.1:78) come and cheer/our spirits by Thine advent here/Disperse the gloomy clouds of night/and death's dark shadows put to flight/ 3) O come Desire of nations (Hag.2:7)  bind/all peoples to thy heart and mind/bid envy,strife and discord case/fill the whole world's with heaven's peace"

 

Thursday-A Christmas Treasury has a section from Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. A Mexican woman is enslaved to a Protestant family from Georgia. They hate Catholics, so they forbid her from going to church. She sneaks out on a frigid night and encounters the archbishop who lends her his cloak. they pray together. she returns the cloak but he is able to press a medal on her, all the better as she cannot read. When have you felt the need to pray when it may have proved dangerous, at least risky? Do you have an emblem of the faith that means much to you? What does your Nativity scene look like, if you have one at home?

 

Friday-By the time of Jesus, the image of shepherd as suffered with failed leaders and in the occupation itself. So, it is a surprise to have shepherds be the first recipients and speakers of the gospel. Of course, the gospel reaches the most unlikely people, people who resemble us, or better, the gospel is directed toward us, failed leaders, failed shepherds, all bit shiftless and suspect. If you were writing a Christmas movie, what unlikely people would be the carriers of the good news?

 

Saturday-How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb at church? ...What do you mean change it, my family donated that light bulb"? Advent is all about keeping alert to impending change or our eyes fixed on the changes that must come for human society to become better, to catch a glimpse of them now.