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I’ve spent much of the past two weeks praying for God to reveal Himself in a new way this Advent season.  While certainly looking forward to Christmas and preparing for Jesus second coming; my primary focus this Advent has been to spend more time than usual in quiet stillness reflecting on God’s Word and listening for His voice. 

This week my thoughts have focused squarely on the Peace of Christ.  Even the two chapters of Acts we studied on Tuesday morning for women’s Bible Study witnessed to Christ’s peace in the midst of chaos.  I wasn’t surprised this week that the Holy Spirit led me to share a message of peace during devotions at the homeless shelter.  It didn’t take long to realize God had been preparing their hearts as well as mine; our discussion was wonderful.

I arrived at home bathing in Christ’s peace and decided to make a cup of tea, turn on the television and find one of those sentimental Christmas movies to watch while doing the daily crossword puzzle.  My peaceful evening relaxation was all planned…

I turned the television on and immediately faced Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  The image of a bloody and beaten Jesus Christ broke my evening of Advent Peace.  The Passion of the Christ was halfway through to its conclusion.  My first thought was, “What is The Passion of the Christ doing on during Advent?”  Jesus couldn’t have walked into my living room in person and made a more dramatic entrance into my heart and mind.  As He endured the lashings and as I watched the slow motion close up images of His blood being spilled intertwined with the flashbacks to calm and intimate moments of His ministry, I could not stop weeping.  My prayer had been answered; Jesus was in my living room revealing Himself in a new way.  I’ve watched this movie many times, but never with the backdrop of the manger.  I was caught off guard, unprepared to contrast the manger and the cross.  Yes, Jesus had just come like a thief in the night as he will in the future.  As the resurrection scene ended all I could think about was how He would greet His disciples soon: “Peace be with you.”

Prayer: Loving Father, please break into my Advent celebration and remind me that You are the source of all peace in my heart despite what is going on in my life.  Give me strength to rejoice in Christ’s love and live in His peace.  I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

 May Christ’s peace be with you as it is with me, Pastor Brett

Hospitality has a long tradition in the history of Israel.  It was the custom to offer hospitality to travelers, strangers who might be passing through.  In the Biblical eastern world one was considered obligated morally to provide food, shelter, and protection to traveling strangers. Hospitality was essential to the survival of travelers at that time.

Contrast that with society today.  When we travel today we don’t think for a second about this type of hospitality.  Most of us just get into our car and go; when we are hungry we stop at a restaurant and when evening comes we check into a hotel to sleep. 

Rosaria Butterfield states in an interview with Christianity Today; “Christian Hospitality is different from Southern Hospitality.  Christian hospitality is not entertainment.”  She goes on to share a process where we meet strangers, welcome that same stranger to become our neighbor and then getting to know that neighbor well enough, that if God ordains it, the neighbor becomes a member of God’s family.  This is all accomplished through repentance and belief.   

True hospitality is not easy; it requires vulnerability and as a friend told me today; an open heart, open hand, and open mind.  Butterfield also addresses fear as an obstacle; fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of dining with strangers, and fear of thinking we have nothing to offer.  When asked about how to get over that fear, she simply says, “Find someone already doing it and help them.”  I would encourage you to read about Rosaria Butterfields “unlikely” conversion.  Just search her name and you’ll find numerous articles and interviews.

Paul writes in Hebrews 13:2; “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” 

As we journey through Advent, preparing to celebrate God revealing Himself to us in Christ one cannot miss out on the chance to reveal Jesus to a stranger.  After all, Jesus tells us when we welcome a stranger we are welcoming Him.

Prayer:  Gracious Father, forgive me when I have overlooked, been afraid, or just too busy to show hospitality to a stranger.  Please provide me an opportunity this Advent Season to show Christian Hospitality to someone I really do not know well or at all.  Please prepare my heart and mind right now through Your Holy Spirit to be ready for that opportunity.  Grant me the courage to be vulnerable, to open my heart and hand, just as Jesus opened His heart and hands to me.  Remind me that I have much to offer to others.  I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Brett

During this season of Advent I hope that Jesus will reveal Himself to you in a new way or through the actions of someone you never expected.

I’ve had several of those experiences during Advent where I’ve seen the light of Jesus Christ revealed through unexpected encounters.  Bear with me as I share one.

As a senior in high school we were required to take a civics class.  One of the activities of the class was “Project Christmas”.  The class would begin raising money and seeking community contributions in a variety of ways.  The most fun was walking the school halls with tin cans asking for everyone’s change from Halloween to mid-December.  We’d collect information about families; provide gifts, Christmas dinner, and other items for families.  The last day of school before Christmas Break we would divide into groups and deliver everything to the families.  We’d heard stories over the years about how rewarding it was, but nothing prepared me for what was about to happen.

We pulled up to the house for our final delivery and I walked up and knocked on the door.  I was greeted by a smiling woman with a broom who was sweeping her floor.  The look on my face spoke a thousand words.  She said to me; “I know it is a dirt floor, but I still like it to be clean”.  I felt convicted on the spot, but she just smiled, took me by the hand and said how glad she was to have us here.  We brought the gifts and food into the house and she invited us to stay for cookies and hot chocolate.  I still weep today when I think of the generosity she showed to me when my face revealed what I was really thinking.  She revealed the grace of Christ to me that day in an encounter I never expected.   The gifts we brought lasted a season, the gift she gave me will last a lifetime.  She was the voice for me that Isaiah talks about in verse 40:3-5.

Isaiah writes; “A voice of one calling: In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.  And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.  For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Prayer: Father, with all the joyous and wonderful chaos of Advent and Christmas, please make straight a path where I can see You.  Reveal Yourself to me this season in a way I was never expecting.  Help me to reveal Your grace and love to someone as well, someone who doesn’t expect it from me and in a way I’ll never know.  I pray this in Jesus name, Amen

Blessings of Christ, Pastor Brett

A friend from seminary, Jill Carattini writes in a BioLogos blog post “The Miracle of Light” on this date seven years ago; “The Christian story is about a God who goes out of His way to know and be known, to offer us His name, to call us by name, to show us He is worth knowing and loving.”  She goes on to ask the question; how is it that we should know God by name, or know the voice of the Son and how should we respond to a God that initiates this type of love?

Advent is the time when we are called to ponder questions like this.  God does go out of His way to make Himself known to us.  Sometimes we think of Jesus birth and the events surrounding it; but don’t stop to ponder the fact that Jesus left heaven for all this to occur.  Jesus came to earth to demonstrate, to show us as a suffering servant that God is gracious and loving and worth our love and commitment.

When we think of God (Creator of the heavens and the earth) it is overwhelming to ponder the love He has for a people who over the centuries continually reject Him.  Yes our God is worthy to know and love; we see that plainly in Christ’s love for us.

As I think about this and the response we should have to these questions; I’m drawn to Philippians 3:10-12; Paul writes, “I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

Life in Jesus Christ will always be a journey of discovery as we ask questions like these and seek the answers in scripture.  The more we dare to humble ourselves and participate in His sufferings, the better we will know Him and His love for us.  Until we see His face when he calls us home or comes to earth to claim His bride, we will not know His love perfectly; but as we journey together, as we press on, Christ will hold us closer and reveal more of Himself to us.

Prayer: Father, I pray that you will draw me closer to you during this season of Advent.  Guide me by Your Holy Spirit as I seek to discover more about Your love for me.  Help me to see that I have not as Paul writes “attained the goal”.   Help me to see that seeking You and participating in Your ministry is the true goal of every Christian should strive to attain.  I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Brett

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in “Christmas Sermons”: “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.”

The first time I read this I thought how troubled Bonhoeffer must have been.  As I read it over and over, I realized that what he is saying is true.  The truth is, without Jesus Christ, we are all troubled, poor and imperfect whether we choose to recognize and admit it or not.

Most people and most Christians for that matter are self absorbed this time of year.  We don’t even wait until Thanksgiving to begin the Christmas Season.  Our minds are fully engaged in Christmas before the Thanksgiving leftovers are eaten.  We are too busy focusing on planning our Christmas celebrations to really stop and celebrate Advent.

In our haste to satisfy our desires and other’s desires for the perfect holiday, we can’t really be bothered with Advent.  Advent requires us to stop; to be still, to read, to pray, to meditate, and to listen for God’s voice.  Rather impossible to do with everything that must be done to celebrate Christmas “correctly.”

Those however who are troubled, who recognize themselves poor and imperfect are, as Bonhoeffer describes, available to celebrate Advent.  Their situation makes it difficult to celebrate as many think we should or need to.  As I read this I’m drawn to the Sermon on the Mount and the beatitude: “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

I’m keenly aware this year as I speak with two close friends who have lost their wives to cancer – aware of just what Bonhoeffer is speaking of as they ponder their situation in life and look forward in hope for greater things to come.  On the one hand I hope we can celebrate Advent properly without being troubled in soul, but I also know how difficult it is for us to slow down on our own.

Prayer:  Father, help me to see just how poor I am without Jesus Christ in my life.  Help me to see just how hopeless I am without Jesus in my life.  You are my light and my salvation; help me to trust in You more and less in myself.  Help me to slow down, to be still and know that you are God and I am not.  Help me to look forward to something greater to come, greater than my eyes can see or my mind can imagine.  I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

God’s Blessings, Pastor Brett

Mike Bickle writes; “Within every human heart are deep cravings that cannot be ignored or denied – they must be satisfied.”

Each of these deep longings (desires) has been placed in us by our God, our creator.   One of those longings is relationship with Jesus Christ.  David expressed this desire in Psalm 82, verse 2: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

Mankind’s longing to be with God began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; they walked and talked with God.  I cannot imagine how they longed for that same relationship after being forced from the Garden and found they were separated from God.  I can only imagine how the disciples longed to have Jesus with them after He ascended into heaven as well.  That longing still exists in each of us; some recognize it and seek to fill it with a life lived in and for Christ, while others seek to fill that craving in different ways.

For Christians the Season of Advent is all about longing to be with Jesus; longing to celebrate His birth, longing for Jesus to be revealed to us through His Holy Spirit, and longing for Jesus to come to earth again.

While we should always be seeking God, there are special seasons when we are called to examine our lives and in this case how we are pursuing our desire to be with Jesus.  Advent, like Lent are two of those special seasons where we are called to seek God more deliberately.

I encourage you to read this blog, perhaps one by Rick Warren or another author, or pick one of the Gospels to read, contemplate, and then discuss your thoughts and questions with someone.  Ask God to reveal new opportunities to serve Him that will in turn draw you closer to Him.

Prayer:  Gracious God, help me to stop, to be still for 15 minutes each day during Advent.  During this time, reveal to me Your truth as I read Your Word and thoughts You inspire about it.  Open my heart to Your will for me in the coming year; ways in which you can draw me closer to You in serving others.  I long to be with You Lord Jesus, I long for You to be with all people on earth.  Come Lord Jesus, Amen.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Brett