December 20, 2022 – Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.  He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed.  There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.”  His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.  He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” Genesis 37:5-10

“Pharaoh dreamed…there came up out of the Nile seven sleek and fat cows, and they grazed in the reed grass.  Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.  The ugly and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharaoh awoke.  Then he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk.  Then seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them.  The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears.” Genesis 41:1-7

It was in December 1888 that the painter Vincent van Gogh, deep in the throes of a bout of severe depression, cut off his left ear with a razor, and sent it to a prostitute for safe keeping. He later documented the event in a painting titled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Today, Van Gogh is regarded as the poster boy for tortured starving artists – though his paintings today sell for millions.

The Christmas season for me is a time of torture – mostly because of the rampant materialism that is attached to this holiday. For Christians, this is the second most important holiday in the church year, second only to the resurrection of Jesus. But without the birth of Jesus, we could not have the life, death and resurrection. Remember this season that G-d came to earth, came to you and me in the baby Jesus. This is what Christmas is about, Charlie Brown – not getting the new BMW (trademark), unless that stands for “Baby Messiah for the World”. 

Let us pray: Dear G-d, there are plenty of reasons to feel depressed in this season. Lift my mood and fill me with the love of your Son, Jesus, the babe in the manger. Amen.

Pastor Dave