Advent Devotion – December 4, 2010

Scripture – Psalm 90

Advent leads home to Emmanuel (God-with-us). The birth of Jesus announced to shepherds, and the baptism of the Word made flesh by John in the muddy Jordan River among repentant throngs, show that God is with us all to make the world whole.

If there is one God beyond our parochial categories and definitions—one God who is over all—then to love and serve such a God will open the doors and windows of mind and heart.

“Do not be conformed to this world,” says Paul, “but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Rom. 12:2). What a glorious broadening there will be of our minds and hearts if the Spirit of a reconciling God is expanding horizons in our thinking!

To think and act while being transformed within is our calling. But grasping the importance to God of blessing the whole human family and acting accordingly make it a costly calling. So like Abraham, the prophets, and the disciples, we find ourselves resisting, objecting, denying, and procrastinating our calling.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus affirms with grace and truth both our calling and our identity, naming peacemakers the children of God. And the prayer in Psalm 90:1 confirms our home address: “LORD, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”

Prayer
O God, are you whispering in Advent to make things new in us? If we feel human anguish as you did at the cross, is our calling to wait, still, in this broken world? Empower us, please, with your shalom. Amen.

The Rev. William H. Creevey, pastor emeritus,
First Presbyterian Church, Portland, Oregon

Order Proclaiming the Good News of God's Peace.