December 8

 Philippians 1:3-11

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

“He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion...”

Many people seem quick to take credit for their work, apparently believing they accomplished it all by themselves. But Paul reminds us to acknowledge the source of all good work.  Can you reflect for a moment on some good work in your life?  Are there others who inspired you or encouraged you along the way?  Maybe a teacher, or a friend you admire, or a colleague or mentor in your career, or an apparently random and unexpected idea,  a bolt out of the blue that got you started.  Maybe you didn’t see it at the time, but can you now see the hand of God beginning a good work in you?   And perhaps you can be the teacher, or friend, or mentor who encourages the good work in others around you.

“It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more.”

It seemed like just another Zoom webinar in which speakers were discussing challenges they’d faced in the workplace, until one woman revealed a male supervisor had once warned her she wouldn’t succeed in business because she was “too nice.”  In the Chat box someone typed “There is no such thing as too nice.” 

Lord God, you who began a good work in me, strengthen me to keep at it. Help me to see and encourage the good work you began in others, that love may abound more and more. Because there is no such thing as “too nice.

Chris Norton

December 7

Luke 1:76-79

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

The Road to Peace 

In verses 76-78 God speaks to John, son of Elizabeth and Zachariah, telling him about his mission to introduce the Gospel.  Did you know that “gospel” means “Good Tidings!” or “Good News!”?  The name Jesus is derived from a Hebrew word that means “savior”.

 “Salvation” is the broadening, enlarging, creating a space in the community for life and conduct’; or the way of Jesus in which God restores our wholeness; our faith in God; the new consciousness that Father, Son and Holy Spirit have promised us.  Salvation comes only through his grace, and his tender heartfelt mercies. Salvation exceeds human ability to grasp it.

In verse 79, who are “those in darkness sitting in the shadow of death” that God’s light shines on?  In Henri Nouwen’s book, The Road to Peace:  Writings on Peace and Justice, there is a “connection between intimacy with Christ and solidarity with the wounded world.”  Nouwen speaks about The March on Selma in 1965, the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr., the spirit among the oppressed poor of Latin America, the legacies of Oscar Romero, Thomas Merton, and lessons of the heart learned among his handicapped friends of L’Arche.  It is a message about Christ’s discipleship.  Nouwen calls activists to be peacemakers in the fullest sense:  to root their witness in prayer, joy, and the spirit of love.

The Good Tidings or Good News is that we may have intimacy with Christ when we include solidarity with the wounded world in our lives.

Jesus, our Savior, show us the way, one foot at a time, down the Road to Peace.  Amen

Myrna Diven

December 6

Luke 1:68-75

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days."

Luke 1:68-75 is part of what is called “The Benedictus,” also known as “The Song of Zechariah.” A little background might be helpful. Zechariah was a priest who was married to Elizabeth, a descendent of Aaron and relative of Mary. They were quite old and childless. One day while Zechariah was serving in the Temple, the angel Gabriel appeared before him and told him that Elizabeth would give birth to a son, who was to be named John. John would be a great man who would bring people back to God. Zechariah would not believe this since he and Elizabeth were just too old for this to be true. Gabriel didn’t like that reaction and literally “muted” Zechariah until the day of John’s birth. When Elizabeth gave birth to a son, Zechariah was then able to speak again and spoke the words we have in Luke 1: 68-79 – “The Song of Zechariah.”

In verses 68 through 75, Zechariah reminds us of what God has done in the past. God remembered the covenant God made to Abraham and has redeemed the people and saved them from their enemies. Being rescued from our enemies, we might serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness in all our days. I like how Carolyn Winfrey Gillette puts it in her hymn: “When Old Zechariah Saw What God Had Done”:

You keep what you promise and so we are blest;
In mercy you saved us when we were oppressed.
As Abraham heard you, we’ve heard your call too;
We’re saved, so we’ll serve you in all that we do.

The last eighteen months have been very difficult for all of us. As we approach this Christmas season with its message of “Good News to all the people,” we may feel a little like Zechariah felt when he first heard the news of his wife giving birth: “Are you sure, God?” However, as Zechariah finally realized and proclaimed: God has not forgotten us. We are blest and redeemed. Because of God’s love for us, we can prepare for the coming of the Christ Child with courage, love, and hope. Good News, indeed!

Loving and Gracious God, as we await your coming to us as the Christ Child, help us remember your promise to us that you will never leave us or forsake us. Enable us to live our lives with expectation, love, and gratitude. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.

Rev. Bill Samford

December 5

 Malachi 3:1-4

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

Just the other day, I heard one of our choir members rehearsing a solo for the Advent season. A featured piece from early in Handel’s “Messiah,” the song takes its text from this passage in the third chapter of Malachi’s prophecy:

Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire… (listen here: https://youtu.be/exAxdWs-hKk

Ever hear that one? I have. And every time, that solo curls my hair.

Malachi reminds us that the coming of God will be a great and terrible Day. Great because of the glory of a Holy God. Terrible because of - well - the glory of a Holy God. Even if we are treasured by or Creator, like a collector who owns precious metals, we will be refined, purified, smelted by fire. It’s going to hurt.

What makes this particularly painful is that the prophet Malachi was addressing the clergy in his day. The priests around Malachi had one hand in the offering plate and another hand clenching their wallets. They were greedy and cheap, in short, cheating God out of a full offering, prancing around in their clerical finery with uncommitted hearts, exerting whatever authority they could - while offering a terribly flawed example for others to follow. Or ridicule.

So the refiner’s fire is a gift from God. It expresses a loving God’s desire for a holy and committed community of faith, led by those who lived a committed and generous life – and called others to live likewise.

In those moments when we have been “salted with fire” (Mark 9:49), there is the opportunity to correct abuses and repent of our own constricted hearts. Again we hear the invitation to change our ways, to turn again toward the Holy One, and to correct our steps. Hard work? You bet. But necessary.

Purify us, Holy God, until we are as generous as you are. Amen. 

Rev. Bill Carter

December 4

 Luke 21:34-36

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

             “Watch at all times,  praying that you may have strength...”

Trouble is coming.  Throughout Luke 21 Jesus has been preaching that violent, frightening, and cataclysmic times are near at hand.  Wars, earthquakes, famine, pestilence,  persecution, execution, hatred, terror.  What is his advice for dealing with all this ?  Prayer.   But not prayer that the evil times will go away.  Prayer for strength to endure the challenges we will face, prayer that we may remain faithful. 

It’s the same selfless prayer Jesus would himself make very soon as his enemies were closing in at Gethsemane.  “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me;  nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 

Lord God, in this Advent season of waiting, keep us watchful at all times. Whatever fears we must face, whatever cares of this life weigh down our hearts, give us strength to face them faithfully, as Jesus did.  For it is in his name that we pray.

Chris Norton

December 3

 Luke 21:29-33

Then Jesus told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Alfred Delp was a Jesuit priest and prisoner of the Nazis. Shortly before Hitler ordered his death in 1945, he wrote these words for his generation and ours:  

Advent is the time for rousing. We are shaken to the very depths, so that we may wake up to the truth of ourselves. The primary condition for a fruitful and rewarding Advent is renunciation, surrender. We must let go of all our mistaken dreams, our conceited poses, and arrogant gestures, all the pretenses with which we hope to deceive ourselves and others. If we fail to do this, stark reality may take hold of us and rouse us forcibly in a way that will entail both anxiety and suffering.[1]

 Lord, shake us all until we settle for nothing less than you. Amen. 

---

[1] As translated in An Advent Sourcebook, edited Thomas O’Gorman (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1988) p. 9

December 2

Luke 21:25-28 

Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

I recently heard a speech delivered by Dr. Yohuru Williams, Professor of History and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. He was speaking to an auditorium filled with University of Scranton freshman students. As an alumnus of the University, Dr. Williams was explaining to these young men and women that with a Jesuit education comes much responsibility. In fact, he said, if all they wanted was a degree, they should have chosen an institution that did not impart a directive to serve others. And if they were waiting to earn that degree to begin their service - to begin working to make a difference in the world - they were too late. 

 Hopefully, the students were inspired to find ways to begin to serve God and the people of God in meaningful ways. In the Gospel of Luke 21:25-28 Jesus responds to curiosity about the end times. There will be signs that the end times are near. Advent is a season of anticipation, of preparation for the coming of Christ. The return of Jesus is a powerful motivation to living as followers of Christ, but what do we do in the meantime, while we wait for redemption? 

 Like the students in that auditorium, we need to start living Christ-centered lives of service now. Look for your own signs that the world and your neighbors are in trouble and find a way to help. Any other time than now is too late.


Tabbi Miller-Scandle