During the time of advent we are going to be using a devotional written by young adults from the Baltimore Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church.
If you would like to download the whole devotional you can visit here
Sunday, December 1 First Sunday of Advent
Bishop Marcus Matthews
Focus: Prayers and deeds
As I sat in the warm candlelit room, music softly emanated from the stereo; the smell of roasting turkey lingered. It was early Christmas morning and my mom had already started to prepare for the day’s feast. The anticipation of Christmas day—presents, family, food, singing carols and hearing the Christmas story read from our Bible as we light the advent wreath—all added to the mystery of Christmas for a young boy. Growing up in a big family, I remember always being the first one up, sometimes even before my mother. I never understood how my brothers and sisters could sleep, with the expectation of what’s to come. I would wonder, “Do they not know what the day holds?”
As I grew older my excitement over Christmas didn’t die. But I have also gained the same excitement over Easter. I enjoy Christmas, but Easter is now my favorite holiday. If it wasn’t for Christ’s death and resurrection on Easter, Christmas would not have any significance. The fact that Jesus, a baby, who grew to be a teacher, preacher and healer, who suffered and died on a cross to give me new life, makes me want to shout, HALLELUJAH! Just imagine the fact that as Jesus was crucified on a cross for your sins, he was thinking of you by name; knowing you would have the opportunity of eternal life in heaven. That is enough to keep me awake with an expectation of what’s to come.
As a man, I’m still like that young boy on Christmas morning. Not anticipating the gifts or other worldly things, but meeting Jesus face to face. I still wonder why brothers and sisters are sleeping with the expectation of what’s to come; do they not know what the future holds?
Instead of being quiet, now I try to “wake up” others, trying my best to take advantage of opportunities to share my faith and to explain to them the importance of Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection. So brothers and sisters, WAKE UP! Because Christ will come when you least expect him. What are you waiting for?
Monday, December 2
Andrew Brown
Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44
Focus: What are you waiting for?
Waiting is hard. For someone like me who likes to always be doing something (anything!), waiting feels like doing nothing. Empty.
Wasted time that could be used to get some good and worthy thing done. Christians have been waiting a long time now, but still we are told to be ready. Even with the biblical warning that no one knows the day or the hour, many Christians have decided at various points in history that they did indeed know the day and hour. It is easy to dismiss these false prophets as cults or extremists, but there’s a part of me that gets where they are coming from. It is uncomfortable to wait for something we don’t quite understand and don’t have any earthly idea how long we’ll have to wait. In Spanish, the verb “to wait” is the same as the verb “to hope.” There is no distinction between the two words. In a sense, the “waiting room” is simultaneously the “hoping room.” To “wait in line” is to “hope in line.” It might sound strange or confusing at first to English speakers but I think this fact of the Spanish language touches on a theological truth. Waiting is very much about hoping. When we wait for the Lord, this is not just standing around doing nothing. Waiting means that we are actively hoping.
In Advent, we wait again each year for the birth of our Savior, and this waiting/hoping should shape us as people of faith. It is not just about the baby that we know will be born because we’ve read the story before. We are hoping once more for God with us—Emmanuel. Sometimes, as we look around at the broken world, it seems that we are hoping against hope that God is still with us. It might feel like we’ll be waiting forever, but we hope because we wait. And we keep on waiting because we have hope. In this season of Advent, God calls us to wait, to dare to hope, in the promise of God’s intimate and continual presence with us.
Tuesday, December 3
Rev. Angela Flanagan
Matthew 24:36-44
Focus: Actively waiting.
You do not know everything. I do not know everything. We do not know everything, and we need to get over that. We live in a world of facts and studies, of research and answers. But we do not know everything. As much as we would like to know the hour Jesus is coming, we don’t. I know that’s hard to accept, but that’s the way God wants it. We aren’t to know, but we are to watch. Be ready. Anticipate. For years, people have claimed to know when Jesus was returning, and every single one of them have been wrong. We do know that Matthew 24:44 tells us why. Jesus told us, plain as day, that it will be when we do not expect him. If we expect him, predict it even, that simply won’t be when he is coming. He says we are to always be ready, though, because he will surprise us. Some of the best gifts in life are the unexpected ones, right? What else do we know? John 13:34 says that we are to love each other. Are you watching for ways to do that? When those moments cross our paths where someone needs even a little of God’s love, are we ready? Are we watching? Will you love them? We know from multiple sources like Ezra and the New Testament letters that God wants us to honor Him. In everything we do—the little, mundane things that make up our day—are we asking ourselves, “What can I do in this very moment to honor God?” Are you watching for that, too? My children call those little moments where we see Jesus around us, “God Sightings.” Watch for God sightings, and embrace them, so that when the ultimate “God Sighting” comes, we will be ready. We don’t know the hour, but we can trust that the day will come. Are you watching?
Wednesday, December 4
Jenney Harris
Matthew 24:36-44 NIV
Focus: God sightings
My grandmother passed away in the spring of 2009, and with every approaching holiday season, I still feel the loss of the one of the most important women in my life. However, in honesty, I must admit that prior to her passing, she was living in exile. Her exile was the hospital bed from which she could not escape. Her exile was the nursing home that was only five miles away from her house, and yet her “unsteady knees” could never provide the energy necessary to walk out her bedroom door. Her “weak hands” could never grip the wheel of a car to travel down the “highway” back to her house, her Jerusalem. The only possible way for her to carry on was through a “Holy Way.” There is courage in the ability to stand and say, “Be strong, do not fear!” and there is hope and comfort in the promise that “God will come and save you” (v 4). My grandmother may not have been able to return to her earthly home from her temporary exile, but Isaiah speaks of a God that was always in control of the events of her life. It is the same God who had compassion for her and would willingly alter creation to make her escape easier. It is the assurance of this God that allowed her to approach “Zion with singing [and] with everlasting joy.” We can find comfort in this universal claim that God is sovereign and cares for God’s people. My grandmother passed away peacefully, alone in a hospital bed, less than 24 hours after she demanded every member of my family come visit her. It was exactly how she would have wanted it, and I confidently believe she has “seen the Glory of the Lord” and is enjoying, “the splendor of our God.” May we all live into this hope of a new life this Advent Season. PRAYER: Lord, as we journey through this Advent season, through any trials, let us persevere towards your Holy Way with the hope of approaching Zion with dancing and joy.
Thursday, December 5
Kyle Durbin
Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5
Focus: Temporary exile
For my family, our life with small children is in many ways a life of routine. No two days in ministry are the same – but at 4 p.m., an incredible autopilot fires up and takes over for the next five hours. We drop whatever we are doing. We drive to the day care provider. Pick up the kids. Take them to a park. Wrestle them into the bath tub. Corral them at the dinner table. Administer whatever antibiotic they happen to be taking. Read stories. Brush teeth. Off to bed. And now it is 9 p.m. Tomorrow: repeat. Jesus’ teachings have a way of having profound theological implications, while also helping us to navigate our daily lives in such a way that we might experience the abundant life that God would have for us. Jesus’ teaching about the coming of the Son of Man is no exception. We can wrestle with Matthew’s understanding of apocalypticism, and we can discern a word of Good News for today. It is easy for us to settle into a rhythm of life. Human beings have been settling into easy rhythms of eating, drinking and marrying, as Matthew puts it, since the time of Noah. But we know not when the end will be upon us. This is not a call to abandon routine, but rather to be mindful of the incredible God-given-abundance that is present in our rhythms. The sight of my 2-year old and 4-year old in the tub, and then their feasting on macaroni and chicken nuggets—that is abundant life. Every day, I am grateful for these rhythms that are gifts from God. Do not wait another minute to give thanks. PRAYER: God help me to be mindful of Your presence with me this day, in both the miraculous and the ordinary. Grant me eyes to see your abundance, and may my spirit be grateful. Amen.
Friday, December 6
Rev. Adam Briddell
Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44
Focus: The momentums of life
When I began my theatre ministry, the logical choice for our first musical was Godspell, probably because I grew up listening to my mom’s old vinyl, but maybe because I couldn’t picture myself hitting the high notes in Jesus Christ Superstar. Ever since the production, I’m fairly certain some youth who participated still think Jesus was quoting the Broadway hit, not vice-versa, and I can’t help but hear the tune, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” every time I come across John the Baptist. Godspell is filled with false expectations. Jesus proves to be little more than a vagabond clown and John the Baptist evolves into Judas Iscariot, betraying Jesus for not being the messiah he expected. Matthew explains why composer Stephen Schwartz chose this dramatic technique. Jesus tells John that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead are raised. All of these problems are fixed perfectly and completely. However, when it comes to the poor, they simply, “have good news proclaimed to them.” In the musical, John complains of social inequality, singing, “they are the best in every town…best at making mountains of money…all of this and we get the rest.” Jesus’ character retorts, “yes, it’s all for the best.” John wants justice now. Jesus was able to restore much of our broken humanity, but total justice comes with the Reign of God, when even the least important will be held in higher regard than one of the greatest prophets to ever dance in the wilderness. This is very disappointing for those left waiting, yet this is what we are called to do. Wait, but prepare. Continue to proclaim the good news to the poor, in spirit or wealth, but do so with the anticipation that the Kingdom of God is already being established. When this becomes our expectation, we have reason to “act,” and to “prepare the way of the Lord.” PRAYER: Lord, as we await your kingdom, let us anticipate your coming justice by preparing the way for your eternal reign.
Saturday, December 7
Kyle Durbin Davidsonville UMC
Matthew 24:36-44
Focus: All for the best
Walking through the store, it’s as if I am in a daze. Christmas music is being pumped through the speakers, while shoppers weave in and out of the racks, each of us engrossed in our shopping list. I have just a few more people to cross off my list; just a few more random gifts to put in a box with a bow; just a few more things to “finish” Christmas. My three year old holds my hand. Why Eden won’t go in the cart, I am not sure. But pushing the cart with one hand and gripping her with the other isn’t leaving me much space to get Christmas done. I let go for one second – to cross a name off the list – and she is gone. Keep Watch. Now I am frantic. The crowd is building, people are frenetic, and I am unable to breathe. Where is my child? Where is my Eden? Keep Watch. There—in the aisle—I spy a blond bob. Standing mesmerized by something, she is engrossed, but in what? Leaving the cart, I rushed to my child. What is she staring at? What has captured her attention? A small nativity. Simple. Just Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child, nestled in a bed of snow. Simple and yet beautiful. Big blue eyes look up at me, with a full smile. She points and simply she says, “Look mom, it is Jesus.” Yes, my child. I see him now. Despite the chaos of Christmas, I see. Despite the list of Christmas I had before, I see. Despite the growing crowd, pushing, pressing, I see. Keep Watch. So overwhelmed by the stuff of Christmas—the lights, the gifts, the chaos— have we forgotten to watch for the signs and wonders of the Kingdom of God around us? So distracted by all that has to be done, have we forgotten to watch for signs of what God is doing among us, with us, in us? Keep Watch, my friends. Keep Watch.