December 3, 2022 – Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Matthew 24:42-44

Keep Awake! Jesus says; for You do not know when the Lord is coming, the day or the hour is only known by the Father. Keep awake can mean two different things. One is to try not to fall asleep. Living your life and your faith life in a drowsy existence or sleeping your life away is no way to live. The other way to consider staying awake is to be alert. Being alert is to be attentive to everything in your presence. Every sound, every movement is listened to, seen, and examined. Which way do you think G-d wants us to “keep awake”? Does G-d seek a drowsy existence with us where we barely hear a word, and always need G-d to nudge us back into awareness? Or does G-d seek a relationship with you and me where we are attentive and aware?  I believe G-d wants us to always watch, always listen and always learn – for our wakefulness will strengthen our relationship with G-d and with each other.

Let us pray: Dear G-d give me the strength and the will to stay awake and to prepare for Christ’s coming. Amen.

Pastor Dave

December 4, 2022 – Advent 2A

“In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ ” Matthew 3:1-3

While I was convalescing with the flu this past week, I did a lot of reading and watched a lot of soccer while shivering under a quilt. As I was perusing the news one day I saw this headline: “Jane Fonda is Preparing to Die”. It was the usual bare-bones MSN article – but it couldn’t have had a truer topic – too few people are willing to accept the fact that one day they are going to leave this earthly plane. And while it may have taken a cancer diagnosis to push Jane Fonda to her current contemplation, at least it has put her into a place of preparing for the end. Now G-d has tried to help people prepare for this inevitable reality for millennia – G-d has sent prophets and G-d has sent messengers – warning the people to prepare for the Messiah.

For Matthew’s Gospel, the word repentance means to “change one’s ways” – or more importantly to completely change directions. John the Baptist also suggests that repentance requires a change of heart – demonstrating a change of behavior. And it is true – repentance needs to come from the heart. Of course the question we need to ask is this: do we need repentance? And what are the benefits of repentance? Well, as I see it, the benefits of repentance are: Giving up control in our lives and allowing G-d to set us upon a new path.

St. John of the Cross, a mystic and Saint writes: “repentance requires complete trust and obedience. If we want to be united with God, we must empty ourselves.”

The question we ask here is: “How do we empty ourselves?” Well, by: Giving up control in our lives and allowing G-d to set us on a new path. What better way is there to prepare for Christ to come again than to listen to Christ and allow Christ to set us on a new path of trust and obedience.

Let us pray: Dear G-d, open my heart to allow you to lead me down paths not anticipated – nor paths I am prepared for – as we wait, expectantly, for the coming of Christ. Amen.

Pastor Dave