Tag: advent

One Thing (Psalm 27)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
And We Shall Dwell in the House of the Lord, by Dale Terbush

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked advance against me
    to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
    he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
    and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted
    above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will receive me.
Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord. (New International Version)

Just recently, I was reflecting on my vocational life with a friend. I realized that, for the majority of my adult life, I have worked at least two jobs at once. On top of that, for several years, I was also going to school. Even now that I have gotten older and (finally) pared my work life down to just one job, I still work in two different places, complete with different offices and staff.

For us Americans, this is like a badge of honor – that we can demonstrate what hard workers we are. Yet, there is also something quite unhealthy about all this work that leaves room for little else in life. Typically, our relationships suffer. And the relationship which suffers the most is with God.

The psalmist had a singular desire – one thing – that he wanted above all else.

It’s the same thing that the Apostle Paul wanted more than anything else in the world (Philippians 31-14); and the one thing Jesus said to the rich young ruler that he lacked (Mark 10:17-31). It’s the thing that Mary pursued, and the thing Martha neglected (Luke 10:38-42). The blind man discovered the one thing in his healing encounter with Jesus (John 9:1-34).

Perhaps we, especially in the United States, need a miraculous healing, not only from our compulsions toward work, but also from our collective spiritual attention-deficit-disorder. We need to be able to focus on the one thing that is needed above all other things – without any sort of multitasking.

Rather than adding another thing to our calendar, and just trying to work harder, let’s step back and reconnect with what is most important to us. What is your highest priority in life? That question isn’t only for me as an American; it’s for all of us everywhere.

It’s instructive that the one thing the psalmist doesn’t ask for is revenge, or judgment, or, at the least, some comeuppance and protection. Instead, he simply asks this: To dwell in the house of the Lord. That is, the psalmist, David, wants more than anything else to live fully in God’s presence – because when that happens, everything else falls into place.

The inherent nature of God is goodness and beauty. So, to be with God is to be surrounding by what is lovely and good. To be in God’s presence is to relax and know real security.

In this state, we are then able to get our bearings and remember the good deeds of deliverance the Lord has done in the past; the mighty acts of power God will show in the future; and are blanketed in the present with the reality that the world doesn’t cease spinning on it’s axis because I have only one job, or take a break, or turn off my cellphone for a day. I can do it without fear or anxiety because God is with me.

With renewed focus, I can center my schedule, my calendar, my plans, and all my decisions around the surety that God is with me; and that I can enjoy the Lord forever. After all, this is what the Christian season of Advent teaches us – that Jesus, our Immanuel, is God with us, come in the flesh for us and for our salvation. That is the one thing we need to know today.

Ever-present and ever-loving God, we plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We cannot do everything; and so help us have a sense of liberation in realizing this, so that we are enabled to do one thing very well; to take joy in being part of the process; to see that taking some steps, and then rest, is enough. We see in part, yet you, O Lord, see all things in their entirety. We are open to being, not just doing, no matter that circumstances, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prepare the Way (Mark 1:1-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message:

“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (New International Version)

The beginning of Mark’s Gospel lets us know what the entire account is all about: The good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And, from the get-go, Mark embeds this beginning in a much older beginning, from the prophet Isaiah. None of this stuff was made up; it’s been there all along, for those with the spiritual eyes to see it.

It could be that it seems you aren’t seeing anything happen in your life that’s good right now. You know you’re now into this Christian Advent season, but not feeling at all as if it’s a time of good news – because all you have been hearing is bad news stacked on top of bad news. Devastation and despair, destruction and depression, are not only with those experiencing the harrowing circumstances of war or disease, but perhaps with you, as well.

Just because you can always point to someone else, or some other people group around the world, that has it worse than you, doesn’t mean that your own situation is necessarily good. The worst sort of grief is the grief that you yourself are experiencing. It’s likely that you may have your own unique brand of hopelessness, and might feel guilty for not being more happy or grateful in this time of year.

We all need good news – not just the ones with daily terrible and traumatic encounters. Maybe we could all tap into our collective humanity and realize our spiritual connection with everyone else in this topsy-turvy world. If we share bad news together, then it seems to me that we can also share the good news with one another, as well.

And there is always good news, if we have the spiritual ears to hear it: God is here. God knows. God cares. God loves. God is the Victor. Specifically, for Mark and for Christians everywhere, the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Messiah is the dynamic proclamation of deliverance from all the guilt, shame, anxiety, and devastation that happens around us and even to us.

The consistent witness of the New Testament Gospels is nothing less than the Evangelists saying to us, “Look! God is here in the person of Jesus.”

Christ did not come to this earth in order to bring us some nice distractions from the crap we are enduring; but instead turns toward the crud and faces it down with divine power.

John the Baptist, by Anikitos Giannoudes

We possess good news of great joy for all the nations. And there is, I believe, no better messenger to let us know this than John the Baptist – a quirky man whose clothes look like they don’t fit right (or are even fit for a person to wear) and whose daily lunch makes all the girls squeal.

If a guy like John – on the margins of society – can help point us to good news, then we, too, have an important place in this world of making a difference with our own social eccentricities, spiritual foibles, mental disorders, and funny looks.

It appears obvious that John only cared about one thing: making sure everyone knew who the true and ultimate Messenger was, because this Messenger Messiah had the true message of good news that the whole world desperately needs.

The good news of God brings hope to those who find themselves in dire straits, on the peripheries of our world, and of wondering if things will ever get better, or not. God’s good news of grace announces God’s presence in all of our wonderings, in every place, and with each situation we find ourselves in.

God’s love goes wherever we are. Jesus is our Immanuel, God with us. In the person of Christ, we discover that God is for us; and if everyone else is against us, the Lord’s divine presence is enough for us. Thanks be to God!

Be Careful (Luke 21:34-38)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple. (New International Version)

Nobody wakes up in the morning, sits up at the end of the bed, and says to themselves, “Well, today, I think I’ll be anxious, go to the bar, drink, and feel awful.” No, of course, we don’t do that. Instead, we are more likely to sit up and, at least, long for a good day and maybe even pledge to change some things; and at most, we make some good solid plans about how to have a fulfilling day.

Yet, for all of us, there are times when we find ourselves in a place in life we neither expected nor wanted. For sure, we cannot control the world and the circumstances and people within it. However, we can take charge of our own hearts and ensure that they do not become weighed down. In such a position, it becomes difficult to pray and have an accurate awareness of what’s happening around us.

This is precisely why even the Lord Jesus himself took the initiative to have regular times of withdrawal in order to connect with the Father in prayer. He could only give from the largess of his heart and soul. If Christ needed to pay attention to the Father, the world, and himself, then how much more must we regularly reorient ourselves so that grace and wisdom rule our lives, instead of anxious dissipation?

We are now in the first season of the Church Year on the Christian Calendar – the time of Advent. Advent literally means “anticipation” because Christians everywhere anticipate Christmas, the coming of Jesus the Messiah. 

While we wait, we pray. Jesus himself tells us to watch ourselves, stay awake at all times, and keep on praying. There is no patience apart from prayer. Show me an impatient person, and I will show you a person who has little discipline for prayer. But show me a patient person, and I will show you a person given to prayer in all circumstances for all kinds of matters.

This season of the year, despite all of its secular busyness and rush, is one of the most ideal times in the Christian Calendar to reconnect with a disciplined prayer life. Many Christians throughout the world desire more of God than a once-a-day “quiet time.” They want their entire lives to be a continual offering of prayer and connection with Jesus the Messiah. 

If one is not in the habit of punctuating each day with short, designated times of prayer, then perhaps begin taking the time in both the morning and evening to intentionally read Scripture, sing, and pray; this may be the best place to start. More outgoing persons may want to recruit others to participate with them. Yet, however its done, allow this Advent season to be an intentional time of reconnecting in prayer.

Let your longings translate into realizations. As we devote ourselves to basic spiritual disciplines, it helps us connect with others in basic human kindness – which is a basic foundational human need that keeps us away from a frivolous life of worrying, and leads us to a fruitful life of love and community.

People become trapped when they spend too much time alone with themselves, or in too much time with others who are only trying to deaden their physical and/or emotional pain. In both cases, they become trapped in their heads, thinking irrational thoughts and believing concocted conspiracy theories (or complicated end times scenarios). This is, at best, a dead end, and at worst, a one way road to destruction.

There is no substitute for prayer, spiritual reading, and wholesome community. Without these, we shall inevitably amble down a path of temptation and get lost in our heads. Christianity, for me, is unintelligible without the hope and the promise of a new and coming order of love, peace, and justice.

A great reversal of moving from anxious worry to ebullient hope is rooted in being able to understand that the words and ways of Jesus will not pass away. And that will only happen if we can locate ourselves as those who are spiritual beggars, in need of continually begging (praying) and searching (reading) for the words of God to become a reality in everyday life.

Our present contemporary life, daily experiences, and world situation is being called toward a future of God’s promises becoming fulfilled. And, at the same time, the future state of justice and peace is being called to our present circumstances, so that we can have a glimpse and glimmer of the hope which awaits us. In other words, the coming of Christ is the future which gives shape to our life today.

Today is the day of encountering the gracious God because tomorrow is the day of judgment, the time of the second Advent… sounds like it’s time to pray!

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all sorts of people everywhere may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Advent Is Coming (Zechariah 13:1-9)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Coptic Church icon of Jesus the Good Shepherd

“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.

“On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive. Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.’ If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
    against the man who is close to me!”
    declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered,
    and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
    “two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
    yet one-third will be left in it.
This third I will put into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
    and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” (New International Version)

There’s likely a reason why so many Bible-readers have barely considered, or just never read, the minor prophets of the Old Testament: It’s difficult reading, on several levels.

Yet, the twelve books of the minor prophets, along with the four books of the major prophets, account for a lot of material within Holy Scripture. If we are to understand the whole of the Bible, as well as know God better, we need to contend with what the prophets have to say.

Impurity and cleansing, grace and judgment, idolatry and stabbing, prophets and visions, sheep and shepherds, faith and apostasy, are all part of what seems, on the surface, to be a confusing hodge-podge of verbiage from the prophet Zechariah. Yet, we can still observe the things God cares about.

The Lord promised to rid the land of idols (false gods), (false) prophets, and the spirit of impurity (false righteousness). If God takes out the false prophets, then the people can say good riddance to a false message of leading others toward idolatry and impurity.

The spirit and the message behind false prophets, unholy leaders, and unrighteous teachers, has to do with propagating lies and suppressing truth, so that they can deceive people and manipulate others for their own benefit – leading groups of people away from reality, and into commitments that go nowhere.

This insidious stuff is meant to be taken quite seriously – because it leads to a breakdown in community, a proliferation of injustice, and oppressive spiritual bondage. That’s why we have a rather dramatic picture of parents stabbing a child – not because God likes violence – but to demonstrate that false prophets and their message will damage and destroy a nation, if indulged.

Orthodox icon of Jesus the Good Shepherd

We must always keep in mind and remember that injustice and unrighteousness must always be nipped in the bud (Deuteronomy 13:6-11). Sin, that is, those things which deceive and make false promises that result in a downward spiral toward death, is to be confronted. In the New Testament, Jesus put the matter this way:

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30, NIV)

Christ was not advocating a physical maiming of oneself, but rather for us to separate ourself from sin by whatever means necessary. In other words, Jesus was saying that sin isn’t something to be managed, but instead something to eradicate altogether.

Truth matters. Truth brings reality and beauty to light. Falsehood is terrible. To promote that which is false, and perhaps even worse, tolerate it, gives hate and injustice a platform from which to crawl out of the darkness and make the world blind. It would take an awful lot to undo error’s presence.

This is why the shepherd, or maybe, from the Christian perspective, the Christ, is stricken. The Good Shepherd, the one who is truth incarnate, would have to suffer. The injustice and unrighteousness is so foul and degrading that only the pure can undo the impure. And it is all set in motion, not by the forces of darkness, but by God.

God strikes the shepherd, and the sheep scatter. He is not struck because he deserves it – far from it – but because he assumes responsibility for the wrongdoing of others. Father God is the parent who stabs a spear in the side of God the Son.

The ultimate good shepherd of the sheep will die as a heinous offender; and God is the executioner.

In Christ, God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

2 Corinthians 5:21, MSG

This same great shepherd of the sheep, who became the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, is coming again. And he will bring the refining and purifying fire of divine judgment upon the earth.

In this upcoming Advent season, we remember not only that Jesus has come to save the world. We also are reminded that there is yet a second Advent, in which Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:7-8, NKJV)

Blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, preserve us from our own madness. Direct us away from dealing destruction to others; help us to steer clear of paths which lead to the ruin of ourselves and our world.

Protect us. Enable us to hear you. Beloved Jesus, show us your precious face in all others – you in us, and we in each other, from all places. Amen.