December 21, 2022 — Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“…here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go.” (Ephesians 3:8-12)

 “Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, walk not on when others stop.” (George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation; number 6; p. 10, Applewood books”)

How do WE keep our hopes up when all seems to be falling apart around us? How do WE continue to trust that G-d will, one day come back to make all things right in a world where so much seems to be wrong? How do we help others when they seem to be suffering? Well, we keep our trust and hope firmly on G-d’s promises because the scriptures tell us that G-d will one day make things right.

I included in my devotion one of George Washington’s rules of civility. It reminds me that we have always looked for ways to be civil to one another. As such we need to be more involved in the life of civil leadership and government—and in the life of the church. We also need to be mindful of how we treat one another. The more we make the voices of concerned Christians known, the more we can have influence in the decisions that are being made—both in our churches, and in our society and in our community. Together we can make known what G-d has in mind for all of creation—the redemption of all.

Let us pray: Dear G-d, help me to be mindful always while still having the courage to speak what needs to be spoken to those who need to hear it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Dave

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