Sunday December 4 (Second Week of Advent)

Prayer: 

Gracious God, we give thanks to you for the peace you give unto us and for the peace that you promise to us and to our whole world. Help us, dear God, to be a people who continue to imagine this time and who trust in its coming. Pour out your Spirit upon us in the time of waiting that we might live as people who are already citizens of the new heaven and the new earth that you will bring to pass. Help us to walk by the vision and the Spirit you grant to those who seek you through your living Word.

Readings: Isaiah 4:2-6, John 14:27

“The Promise of Shalom”

 In view of the pending disasters His judgment would bring, God promised restoration and purity— His perfect peace, shalom— to the nation of Israel. For centuries, Israel looked forward to the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies, to the coming of the Anointed One who would bring all God’s promises to fruition. How would they know who this Messiah that they were looking for might be? What was the sign of His coming? In today’s Scripture reading, the prophet Isaiah tells us that He will be the Branch of the Lord, beautiful and glorious, and at His coming all God’s people will be made holy, cleansed by a spirit of judgment and fire. Yet Jesus the Messiah did not fulfill the promise the way as many Jews of his time expected. His shalom is not merely an earthly one that restores Israel and purifies its inhabitants; it is the heavenly shalom of perfect reconciliation with the Father that brings restoration and holiness to humanity. He took our judgment upon himself and gifted us with his Spirit so we can be pure and holy even in the present life.

As we light the candle of peace and enter into the second week of Advent, we wait expectantly for the coming of the Prince of Peace, who has brought God’s perfect peace into the toil and turmoil of humanity and will one day return to establish everlasting peace that knows no bounds.

Light the Advent Candle of Peace 

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Peace. Our peace is found in God and in his son, Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, and all the prophets remind us, that to receive peace we must be prepared for it. We light this candle today to remind us that Christ is the Prince of Peace, the one promised from the beginning of the world. We thank God for the hope he gives us and for the peace he bestows.[1]

Introduction to the Spiritual Disciplines for the Second Week of Advent: 

Solitude 

This week, we look to the example of the One whose coming we eagerly await as we engage in the spiritual disciplines of solitude and prayer. During the three and half years of of his early ministry, Jesus not only demonstrated an incredible life of service but also exemplified a spiritual life of solitude and prayer. In Matthew 14, we find Jesus withdrawing to a solitary place, where the crowds followed him. After healing many and then feeding all of them, he dismissed the crowd and “went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (14:23). He prayed late into the night. Then, walking on water, he rejoined his disciples who were in a boat buffeted by the waves. Our Lord sought to have time alone with the Father and this is what doing the Father’s will demands. In the time of solitude, one is truly alone in a quiet place, away from other people and all distractions. Here one seeks out God and allow Him to search and examine one’s heart. By setting all things aside for a time, space is created for the Spirit to renew and empower the broken, contrite soul. Whether it is for one hour or for a few hours, let us take time this week to practice silent solitude in God’s presence. In a quiet place of our choosing- a spare room in the house, a secluded spot in the park- away from things that compete for our attention, let us come to the Lord just as we are and invite the still, small Voice to speak into our lives.

Prayer [2]

As we grow more accustomed to the practice of solitude this week, we may find in ourselves a growing awareness of what God is doing in our lives. This is when we move into prayer and commune with God verbally. As familiar it is to us, prayer as a spiritual discipline is difficult to do. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had to tell his disciples repeatedly to “watch and pray”! And we often find instructions and encouragements in the New Testament that says, “devote yourselves to prayer” (Colossians 4:2). To cultivate a life immersed in prayer, this week we will engage in a few different subdisciplines of prayer- praying the Scripture, prayer walk, praying with a partner and praying the hours. Jesus came so we can be reconciled to the Father. Yet without a life of prayer we cannot enjoy an intimate relationship with our Abba, Father. During this second week of Advent, let it also be our desire to learn to pray as our Lord prays on that lonely mountainside. Let the reconciliation that Christ brought us with the Father move us to prayer, until “that marvelous peace of God” is established wherever His people pray.

Application:

There will be more detailed instructions for each day’s discipline. We’ll be focusing on solitude in the first half of the week and then shift to prayer in the second half. At least an hour’s time is needed to go through each day’s devotional and to practice the discipline. Prayerfully prepare yourself for this week’s spiritual disciplines. Spend some time alone reflecting on the peace of God and today’s Scripture reading. Close the prayer below with your own response to God’s invitation to a deeper commitment in your relationship with Him through solitude and prayer during this second week of Advent.

[1] Richard J. Fairchild, "Sermon and Liturgy for Advent 2 - Year A," Sermons and Sermon- Lectionary Resources, http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/a-ad02sm.ph (Accessed on Nov 21, 2013.) 
[2] Richard J. Fairchild, "Sermon and Liturgy (2) for The Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year C," Sermons and Sermon- Lectionary Resources, http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/c-ea06sn.php (Accessed on Nov 21, 2013.)

Sunday November 27 (First Week of Advent)

Prayer:
In our secret yearnings
we wait for your coming,
and in our grinding despair
we doubt that you will.
And in this privileged place
we are surrounded by witnesses who yearn more than do we
and by those who despair more deeply than we do.
Look upon your church and its pastors
in this season of hope
which runs so quickly to fatigue
and this season of yearning
which becomes so easily quarrelsome.
Give us the grace and the impatience
to wait for your coming to the bottom of our toes,
to the edges of our finger tips.
We do not want our several worlds to end.
Come in your power
and come in your weakness
in any case
and make all things new.
Amen. [1]

 As we pray with Walter Brueggemann we acknowledge the fragility of hope amidst the grinding despair and our places of privilege. The God in which we hope, the begotten Son declared to come to us is our hope. It is not just our hope. It is the hope of generations, it is the hope of salvation declared in Abraham as he stood over Isaac, it is the hope in the Passover and clung to in the desert. As we wait, as we hope, we pray that as a community we can press into the Advent season with all the voices that have come faithfully before and join in the hope of the present Church now as we hope for our present and our future, to hold both together as we seek to know and live more fully out of the knowledge of this hope.

Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13:11-14 and Matthew 24:36-44

Spiritual Disciplines for the Week: Fasting and Feasting 

Fasting is often seen as individual activity rooted in asceticism that many of us do not relate to and if we are familiar with the discipline it normally set aside for special decisions. This season we would like to reframe fasting and its counter feasting. We are in a season where many of us indulge routinely and often without much if any mindfulness and this is not just limited to food or drink. We spend more that we may have in the declaration that this is a time to celebrate. It is indeed a time to celebrate. But what are we celebrating and how are we demonstrating that mindfulness.

Fasting is not limited to food, it might be more meaningful in your life and the lives of others if you’d would consider fasting from gift giving, this could be opting to fast from purchasing and only offering handmade gifts or opting instead to give to your community with your time or your money. For some of us the giving of our time is more demanding and challenging than giving of our resources. Fasting is by act a redirection of our spiritual and physical energies so that we may better serve Christ and resultant is our ability to serve others. 

Suggesting we should feast at Christmas seems simplistic and even a little ironic. This is an intentional feasting that follows fasting and sees the feasting as given by God to us, a time of celebration. You may want to consider breaking your fast only at Christmas Eve or Christmas day when we announce the joy of Christ, who came and will come again. Whenever you do approach feasting, consider how too with feasting you may witness to the work of Christ. Who is welcome at your table? As we journey through the week there will be more ideas how you can frame these disciplines.

[1]    Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, ed. Edwin Searcy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 148.