December 23, 2022 – Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5

“Shake not the head, feet, or legs; roll not the eyes; lift not one eyebrow higher than the other; wry not the mouth; and bedew no man’s face with your spittle by approaching too near him when you speak.” (George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation; number 12; p. 11, Applewood books”)

How important do you think it is to always use proper manners? Where is Miss Manners (Judith Martin) anymore? I believe it remains enormously important to our world, and our society today if we concentrate on our manners more and being right less. Accept, when it comes to getting Jesus right. It is important to our personal life, our religious lives, and our communal life for us to get Jesus right. Some might say “Well, Jesus is who Jesus is.” And that is true. We do not want to make more of less of Jesus than what he truly is.

So, to begin with, we believe Jesus was, and is G-d’s Son….G-d Incarnate. The Gospel of John states that Jesus was pre-existent – that Jesus was there at the time of creation – a co-creator with G-d and the Holy Spirit. Other Gospels only state that Jesus either was born in the lineage of King David, or he appeared around the time of John the Baptist, his cousin. 

We are now in the Advent season – where we await the birth of Jesus. What lay ahead of us is his entire life: his teachings and salvatory actions. The danger to be aware is this: we must be careful not to make Jesus into our own personal image of him, rather than to understand that he is the image of G-d, come to earth to inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven. As such, Jesus was both a “Son of Man”, and the “Son of G-d”. He was pre-existent – he was there at creation. And he was born to Mary and worked with Mary’s husband, Joseph, as a carpenter. This is just the beginning…but every great story, like good manners, begins somewhere.

Let us pray: Dear G-d, we would like to think we have good manners always. Of course, we will only know when we step outside of ourselves and are more mindful of our actions. This Christmas season, help me to be more mindful of how I treat others. Amen.

Pastor Dave