Awaiting God Avent and Christmas Devotional 2020

Awaiting God

Advent and Christmas

Devotional for 2020

Nipomo Community Presbyterian Church

Rev. Dr. Garrett J. Andrew

An Introduction

This Advent and Christmas Devotional is meant to help you center yourself daily

during the turbulent days of 2020. It is meant to help you feel connected to the God of

the universe who was born Mary’s baby over 2000 years ago. This time of year is always

hard, but this year is different. There are still errands to run, but no longer parties to

attend. There are still trips to make, but not like we are used to making them. There are

still things to cook, but not as much as previous years. Whatever joy we are accustomed

to experiencing this time of year, it is different this year.

Covid-19, coupled with deep political and racial divisions, makes this year harder. For

some, even the idea of taking time to center themselves in God seems hard. However,

as the days grow darker, and our traditions are left in boxes, it is our call to discover

ways new and old to celebrate Christ and worship God.

Discovering the ways to center ourselves in the heart of God will allow us to be light to

the world, and the world needs some light. Since we cannot be in our churches this

Advent and Christmas, we get to create sanctuaries in our homes. Find a place in your

home and make it holy. Set it aside for God. Make your own Advent wreath. Then use

this devotional while lighting the candle(s) for that week.

Each day of this devotional contains a Scripture passage from the daily lectionary, a

reflection, an action item, and a prayer. Use it as you see fit, but use it for worship and

light a candle as a part of that worship.

These ancient acts of worship, in the face of the issues of our time, are our task as

children of the Light. They serve to keep us centered in God and thereby centered in

truth. They serve to guide us in the way of Christ. They serve others by ensuring that

we continue practicing love in a world with too much hate.

This year I read several books by Howard Thurman. He was a great American mystic,

poet, preacher, author, teacher, prophet, and civil rights leader. In encouraging you to

light your candle each day during the Advent and Christmas seasons I end this

introduction with a poem from his book, Meditations of the Heart:

I will light candles this Christmas,

Candles of joy despite all the sadness,

Candles of hope where despair keeps watch,

Candles of courage for fears ever present,

Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days,

Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,

Candles of love to inspire all my living,

Candles that will burn all year long.

With hope, love, joy, and peace,

Garrett

A Quick Comment on Advent

Advent is the beginning of the Christian calendar and begins four Sundays before

Christmas, the Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s feast day on November 30th. Advent has

traditionally been a time of preparation and penitence while waiting for the arrival of

the Christ. In fact, the word “Advent” means “arrival.”

In our culture, we begin to think about Christmas music during early November, if not

before. In church, we aren’t supposed to be singing Christmas songs until Christmas

Eve! There is not much waiting anymore. So I suggest we keep the ritual and let some of

the tradition go. Doubtless someone will argue with me, but nonetheless, let us walk

with Jesus now and not worry. Sing Christmas songs and rejoice!

Advent wreaths have been used with the dual symbolism of the circle and evergreens.

The circle represents union and eternity, the evergreens represent life. Advent wreaths

often have three purple candles, one pink candle, and one white candle in the middle

surrounded by the other four. The color purple symbolizes penitence, as traditionally

Advent is a season similar to Lent. This year is a mournful year; even as we sing

Christmas songs we must not forget our need to confront ugly realities. We light

candles in hopeful defiance of the pain, knowing that God has the final say. The pink

candle is lit on the Sunday of Joy. It is pink because penitence and joy don’t often mix,

or so the thinking goes. The white candle is the Christ Candle. It is lit on Christmas Eve,

and lit again during the twelve days of Christmas.

In my tradition, the Sundays of Advent are often associated with a word. Each word is a

beautiful intention that we make as we move throughout the season. The first Sunday

of Advent is the Sunday of Hope. The second is the Sunday of Love. The third is the

Sunday of Joy (with its pink candle). The fourth and final Sunday of Advent is the

Sunday of Peace. It is common to see the Sundays of Love and Peace switched.

These four words each remind us of an aspect of Christ, as well as set our own

intention. Christ is hope, love, joy, and peace, and we are to live with and become hope,

love, joy, and peace. Hope does not mean simple optimism, but trusting that God’s will

shall be done. Love is the belief that God is love and we are loved, and the living out of

the commandments to love God and neighbor. Joy is the childlike wonder of Christmas

approaching and feeling that again and again as we enjoy God and creation. Peace, the

Hebrew idea of Shalom, is the inner peace that moves us to live peacefully with all of

creation as Jesus, the Prince of Peace, exemplified.

As we go through these weeks of Advent and Christmas, and go into a new year, may

we do so with a renewed intentionality toward hope, love, joy, and peace, and thereby

press ahead as people of the Light. May God’s grace meet us where we are and take us

to places our imaginations never dared to dream. May we meet the Christ and follow

him as he heals and preaches good news. May Christ be born again within each of us.

The First Week of Advent - Hope

Sunday, November 29

Today’s Scripture - Psalm 24

Today’s Reflection:

Say the word, “hope.” Sometimes we wonder where we may ever find something as

precious as hope. What does it mean to you to live with hope?

This ancient psalm reminds us that the earth is God’s, and all that is in it. It

speaks of the need to lift up the gates protecting cities “that the King of glory may come

in.” Hope necessitates that we remember no matter what is happening, this creation is

God’s and in God’s control. Hope comes when we open up our defenses that keep us

safe, but never safe from worry, so God can meet us where we are.

The Christian tradition claims that God became a human being, with all of the

frailties of humanity. This is our most hopeful claim. God does not ever abandon us!

God instead does what other religious traditions believe is impossible. God becomes

one of us that we may know what we are created to be.

The claim of Christmas is that God loves humanity, and the human body, and

the messiness of being a human so much, that God chose to be with us in the flesh.

Maybe you don’t love your humanity, your human body, and the messiness of being a

human. Maybe you don’t think all of this can be loved. The claim of Christmas is that it

can be, and that means that nothing is hopeless, because God is still at work.

Action Item:

Think of the gifts you are giving to others. Are they gifts of hope? Consider figuring out

ways to make them hopeful. Perhaps you can make gifts, use an alternative gift fair that

serves the needy while honoring another, write a letter to someone about what they

mean to you. Choose at least two people to give “gifts of hope” to for Christmas.

Prayer:

God of hope, open my heart, mind, and soul to experience some of the ways you are working in

the midst of pain, that I might taste your hope and know it is real. Amen.

Monday, November 30



Hope is always most real in the act of waiting. Waiting as an act may mean crying out

while stuck in the desolate pit, or miry bog, but not giving up the belief that God will

“put a new song in my mouth.” Hope exists where trust exists. We can trust that good

will prevail over evil, trust that people will do the right thing, and trust that we will

continue to progress as a species, but when such trust is tested hope is usually

sacrificed.

The Psalm offers a trust in God as the only means of hope. We are waiting on

God when we are at our most hopeful. We wait by daring to speak up for what God

desires because we trust that is what God wants of us. We wait by being good to the

poor of all kinds. We wait by believing we do not need to participate in the broken

ways of the world that chooses violence and hate and division. We wait when things do

not go our way because we are waiting on God and never lose hope.

The only thing we can be sure of in our waiting is that God will surprise us. The

stories of Christmas are all about surprises. Mary was surprised, Joseph was surprised,

some shepherds were surprised, we are still surprised. The only thing that is actually

worth waiting for is the One that made this all and will see it through in the most

surprising of ways through the most surprising of people.

Action Item:

Today practice a hopeful act of waiting by not spending any money unnecessarily.

Make coffee at home, eat the leftovers instead of ordering in, don’t buy that shirt you

don’t need. At the end of the day think of how much you saved. Give it away. In doing

that while waiting for God, you gave your hope to others.

Prayer:

God of hope, help me wait for you by showing me all the things I can do while waiting that

allows the light of hope to burn within me. Amen.

Tuesday, December 1



To be hopeful is to praise God. Have you ever tried to sing some words that didn’t have

music for them, but there was music in your heart for them? Psalm 146 starts off that

way for me. Try singing it, too. “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will

praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.”

Praise pours from the one who trusts God and thereby hopes. Notice what the

ancient psalm believes of God. It is God who gives justice to the oppressed, serves food

to the hungry, sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up the lowly, loves

the righteous, watches over strangers, upholds the needy, and ends the ways of evil. Do

you remember Jesus’s first sermon in his hometown in Luke 4? He says in him such

things are fulfilled.

Yet there are still people who are oppressed, hungry, imprisoned, blind, lowly,

unwelcome, needy, and there seems to be plenty of evil. So can we trust this God? Go

deep inside yourself, where reason is irrational and your soul sings this psalm because

it knows that it is true. Stay there for a moment. What you are experiencing is faith, and

faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in his book, The Irony

of American History, “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;

therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes

complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by

faith.” Let hope and faith save you and be a part of some absurd project of God that has

no chance of being achieved in our lifetimes.

Action Item:

Don’t read or watch any news today. Use the time you spend consuming news to think

of people you are grateful for, people who have helped you when you were poor or

needy or a stranger. Pray for them and write at least one such person a letter telling

them how they’ve given you hope. It will be good news to them.

Prayer:

God of hope, thank you for the people who have been your hope to me. They have helped me to

hear the song of my soul. Inspire me now to help others hear their songs. Amen.

Wednesday, December 2

Today’s Scripture - Isaiah 2:1-4


Isaiah’s words beautifully describe the will of God. God desires a home which all

people “shall stream to,” so that God “may teach us his ways and that we may walk in

his paths.” The end of these paths is the end of all war.

Through the incarnation God made a home with us that wasn’t just a temple or

mountain or altar. God became a human to be one of us. God moved into the

neighborhood, as Eugene Peterson famously said. God made a home in our homes.

Think of it! God is at home with you right where you are. Jesus still calls us to

follow him that we learn from him and walk his paths. The end of his path is the end of

war, and if everyone were to truly follow it, war on earth would end. However, to walk

in his path, if only with him, still ends the wars within.

The wars that rage within our psyches and cause us to continually question our

worth and our belovedness, that keep us worrying over things we do not control, that

keep us resentful and unforgiving, that make us selfish and fearful, or any other war

that keeps us from inner peace and acts of selfless compassion, are all ended when we

walk in the way of Jesus.

If we accept that he chooses us to live this way, we become hope for others that

they can have this peace too.

Action Item:

Play a game with someone you love today. It doesn’t matter what the game is, but take

time to be with someone like God is with you, completely. No phones, no electronics,

just someone you love, and fun.

Prayer:

God of hope, you knock on my door as a homeless baby, today I open that door that you may be at

home in me and I may learn your ways and walk your paths. Amen.

Thursday, December 3



This psalm is so very honest. The first half is a memory of God saving people in the

past. The second half is a plea that God save them now, with the certain hope that

“those who go out weeping… shall come home with shouts of joy.” Life is so often

hindsight, seeing what God has done, and hoping that God will keep on doing it.

When I was a young seminary intern I was blessed to work with the saints of

Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church. This loving and small congregation took a white

intern into the black church and taught me a lot about faith.

At the beginning of each service they sang the same song, “We’ve Come This Far

By Faith.” They sang each week that God had never failed them in that song. Then at

the end of each service they sang, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” That song is hopeful but

honest that there is still the need to “march on ’til victory is won.” For a people who

have suffered in my country for generations in ways that I cannot comprehend, their

hope gave me hope, because they believed so deeply that their hope was in God that I

believed it, too.

Hope is often strongest amid those who suffer more when their hope is in God. I

know that sounds crazy. But not as crazy as the Creator of the universe being born,

breastfed, and needing a change of diapers, I suppose.

Action Item:

Do not listen to the radio in the car today. If you don’t get in the car at all, sit in silence

for twenty minutes. Or do both. Consider all the ways God held and cared for you in

the past. Breathe in the hope that God is doing it still.

Prayer:

God of hope, this has been a hard year, but I know that you have taken us this far, and that

whatever happens I will always be with you. Amen.

Friday, December 4

Today’s Scripture - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12


In Christ, God’s call us to be holy. To be holy is to be set apart for a purpose. That

purpose is to love. Paul knew this and wrote such to the Thessalonians. He tells them

that they learned how to live by watching Paul live.

We have each learned how to live the way of God by watching others. They have

been, and are, quite literally, our hope that we can live the way of God too. During this

time of year we usually attempt to gather around friends and family, the people who

love us and we love, too. We know those who love us because they have been those we

can go to when we stumble, fail, break apart, and fall down. When we seek out the love

of others in our need, we find those who forgive and encourage us. They remind us that

we are still loved when we wonder if we can love ourselves. They are precious and our

hearts rejoice in the presence of their love.

Paul recommends a way to live this way of love toward others, and thereby to be

the hope that they can find that love when it feel like their worlds are falling apart.

“Aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands” (1

Thessalonians 4:11). The goal being that we don’t look to see what others can give us.

Instead we only see them as they are, miracles. The one who can see others as miracles

to be celebrated is always the bringer of hope. You were made and are called to be the

bringer of hope.

Action Item:

Take all of the advertisements that come in the mail, the newspaper, and magazines,

and throw them in the recycler without even looking at them. You don’t need anything

else to be a miracle.

Prayer:

God of hope, you know who I am. Remind me again that I am a miracle and open my eyes to

every miracle I encounter today that I may bring hope to all I encounter. Amen.

Saturday, December 5



“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” God always is. This psalm

reminds us that our days are short. We will be swept away. Our sinfulness is known to

God, and as such, makes God angry, and we know why. God becomes angry when we

are not with God, when we think our lives are somehow special apart from God.

Thomas Merton wrote in No Man is an Island, “Pride always longs to be unusual.

Humility not so. Humility find all its peace in hope, knowing that Christ must come

again to elevate and transfigure ordinary things and fill them with his glory.” Pride is

always the antithesis of hope, for it places hope in us alone. The end of the psalm

becomes a prayer that God’s works be made manifest in us, and that the work of our

hands prosper, since such work will be the work of God.

Advent and Christmas are our annual reminder that God became one of us to

show us what we are to be. The temptation of religion is to accept the forgiveness of

Christ without participating in the life of Christ. However, the forgiveness is there to

free us from pride to humbly walk with the One who said, “learn from me for I am

gentle and humble of heart.”

This hope is always available to us, for God is always present for us to make a

home in God. This hope is always available to us, for God became one of us to make a

home in us. This is the true hope of Advent. That Christ must come again to take our

ordinary lives and fill them with glory. God’s work pours from you. This is not

unusual, it is divine.

Action Item:

Create some kind of art today. Draw a picture, paint, build, play music, write a poem,

do something ordinary that manifests the love of God. Share it.

Prayer:

God of hope, take my life and fill it with your glory. Use my hands to do your work that others

may find hope in you through me. Amen.

The Second Week of Advent - Love

Sunday, December 6



Some love songs are painful. We wish it were not so. We wish so badly that love was

easy. It isn’t. Here Isaiah sang a song of love to God, about what God loved. However,

the people God loved did not live the life of love themselves, and it broke God’s heart.

There are so many now with broken hearts. How many homes will be empty of

celebration this Christmas? How many chairs will be empty at dinner tables of those

who have died this last year? How many people scream out for justice? In each cry and

scream is God who cries and screams too.

God is love, and God became one of us to show us the way of love. The shortest

verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” Grief is the experience of love that has no place to go.

I know you hurt this season. I know that it isn’t what you expected and certainly isn’t

what you wanted. I also know that the pain you feel is because you love. God’s heart

broke when those God loved did not love others.

In Jesus we discover how far that love will go to be with us. It will go to death

and back again just to tell us, “I love you, I love you, I love you. Now love others, love

others, love others.”

Isaiah spoke of his beloved, God, building a vineyard. God had hoped that the

wine would be amazing for all. God still hopes that in building a home in us, the wine

will be amazing for all. You are the beloved of God, created to love others amazingly,

justly, and beautifully. It is the message of Christmas.

Action Item:

Spend five minutes in silence thinking of people that you have hurt, either accidentally

or on purpose. Call at least one today, and share your love by seeking forgiveness. In

that way the vineyard that is you will begin producing the best grapes, the grapes of

love.

Prayer:

God of love, I am sorry for the ways I have provoked your anger by not acting as your beloved.

Remind me who I am to you, and grant me the courage to live that way. Amen.

Monday, December 7



Advent is a season of waiting, and we await the arrival of Christ who will make all

things complete. Paul believed, like Jesus taught, that this arrival will come at any time.

Many western Christians have come to believe that Jesus will come again some day, but

it may also be that Jesus comes again in our days over and over again. “Keep awake,”

Paul said, so we are ready for him.

How do we keep awake as we wait? According to Paul, it was in the act of loving

each other. “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you

are doing.” Encouragement and building up each other is one of the surest forms of

love. Think of all of the people in your life who have encouraged you and built you up.

Each one of them loved you so much that they had no other choice but to do the work

of love, which reminded you who you were.

How many teachers, mentors, pastors, friends, family, even strangers have

encouraged you to be who you are? How many times have you met Jesus in them? I

will not dare to count, because there are so many. Just as important is the question, how

many people have we encouraged and built up? How many people think of us when

they think of those who have loved them into becoming their true selves? For such

people, when they think of us, may wonder if in us they met Jesus.

Action Item:

Today pay attention to every stranger that you meet. Find opportunities to notice them,

encourage them, and build them up. Maybe something as simple as, “Hey, nice shoes!”

You do not need to know them to know that God loves them. Love them too.

Prayer:

God of love, come again into my life. Remove the clutter that keeps you from making a home in

me. Then use my life to build up others so they may know that Christ is born. Amen.

Tuesday, December 8

Today’s Scripture - 1 Thessalonians 12-28


As Paul concludes what may be the first letter we have from him, he gives a crash

course on love. Respect and love those who work for you. Be at peace among

yourselves. Admonish those who are idle and need some pushing (in a different letter

Paul said, “Speak the truth in love,” so I would guess that this is the best way to

admonish people). Encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, and be patient with

them. Do not repay evil for evil (end the cycle of violence and victimization!). Always

seek to do good for each other. Rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances (because

there are always reasons to give thanks), pray without ceasing…

I am tired of hearing, “We need to keep Christ in Christmas.” To me it sounds

like people acting like victims who are no longer allowed to celebrate Christmas. This

year there are those who are furious with governments for trying to slow the spread of

Covid-19 and are limiting our worship celebrations. Paul was begging people to keep

the Christ in Christian. Our worship services matter far less to God than our living out

the way of Christ.

This Christmas we get to celebrate by keeping the Christ in Christian. It is God

who calls you to be a Christian, and this God is faithful and will make sure that you do.

In other words, God will pour love into you so that love pours out of you. Let the love

flow!

Action Item:

Reflect on people in your life who have admonished you lovingly and worked for you.

Pray for them and thank God for them.

Prayer:

God of love, use my broken love to bring about your full love in the life of someone who doesn’t

believe that love is real. Amen.


Today’s Scripture - Psalm 147:1-11


Do you remember the Howard Thurman poem in the introduction to this book? Go and

read it again. What we are doing by daily lighting a candle, reading Scripture, reflecting

on it, acting on it, and praying, is lighting the candle of Christmas within us. When we

do that we know that the world hurts, oppresses, and wounds us and others in so many

ways. We also know that God desires to gather the broken-hearted and heal the

wounds of the hurt. When we light our inner candle, we are hoping in God’s steadfast

love.

In our daily actions of sharing hope and love so far, we have been allowing

God’s light to flow through us to give light to others. This is one of the surest ways to

sing praises to God. Certainly we can always sing actual songs to praise God, but what

if our lives become songs to God? Or better yet, what if our lives inspire others to sing

praises to their Creator and Savior?

God desires that we care for each other. “His delight is not in the strength of the

horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner” (Psalm 147:10). In other words, God

doesn’t care about strength and power, God cares about love. Jesus came to show us

how this is lived out. We have a chance this year, when we cannot do anything

normally, to share love without any of the strength or power that we normally do.

Instead we get to share love from ourselves, and know that as we do, the light of

Christmas burns within us.

Action Item:

Call up someone and tell them you’d like to bring them a meal. Socially distance

yourself, but cook someone a meal. Make sure to make it with love as you do. Then feed

someone a meal made with love.

Prayer:

God of love, Jesus said, “This is my body broken for you.” As I feel broken today because of what

I cannot normally do, may my brokenness feed another as Christ has fed me. Amen.




Advent is a season of waiting, and thereby a time for patience. Patience is something

that is rarely valued these days. Our lives have become easier in many ways because of

the lack of waiting that is necessary in our living. We order things online and expect

them to arrive to our homes the next day. We wait in lines and get frustrated if we wait

too long. We expect that produce, whether in season or out of season, is available to us

at all times. We send a text and become angry if the person does not reply quickly. We

do not like to wait. A season of pandemic is exasperating our already frayed patience.

Yet we have a season of waiting that is included in the Christian calendar. This

year we get to wait more. We are waiting for the end of a pandemic. We are waiting for

a vaccine and hoping that it works. We are waiting for a peaceful transfer of

government. We are waiting for a time we can again gather with our loved ones and

enjoy our holiday seasons as we took for granted in years past. We are waiting.

This psalm reminds us that a part of our spirituality is waiting for God. The

people of Christ’s time had waited for four hundred years, as no prophet had risen up

to speak to the people from God. They waited while Rome did as empires do and

subjugated them. They waited while the whole world seemed chaotic and crazy. They

waited.

Then, when Jesus showed up, they were surprised. They weren’t expecting God

to show up as a baby. But it is still Jesus that brings us salvation. It is still Jesus who is

our rock and fortress. And in the midst of our waiting, it is still the love of Jesus that

keeps us going. Take a moment, wait in silence, and don’t be shaken.

Action Item:

Today is International Human Rights Day. There are so many people waiting for basic

rights in the world. Contribute to an organization that supports human rights today by

volunteering, financially contributing, or praying for that organization.

Prayer:

God of love, you have loved me all of my days. I can always see your love in hindsight. Allow me

to see your love as I wait during these hard days. Amen.

Friday, December 11

Today’s Scripture - Luke 22:14-30


Sometimes I meditate on the Last Supper. I try to see Jesus at a table with Peter and

Judas. I wonder, if I knew what he knew, would I be able to sit there with them? I hope

I would. I hope I can see this most holy of meals and realize that this is love at its most

beautiful.

We are so divided in our nation that families split apart because of choices made

in elections. We are so certain that we are right that we are willing to choose being right

over choosing love, and have somehow deluded ourselves into thinking that is love.

Then I imagine Jesus at the table with people he loves. One who is about to deny

knowing that he exists. Another who is going to betray him with a kiss.

He was honest with them. He was always honest. More important to him was

loving them, however. “I really want to have this meal with you,” he told them. “This

broken bread is my broken body. This cup of wine is my blood, a new covenant of

forgiveness and grace. Do not forget it!”

Peter and Judas both forgot. We still forget. Peter denied him and ran away

crying, feeling utterly broken. Matthew’s gospel says Judas tried to give the money back

and, in total anguish, took his own life. Sometimes I wonder if he had just remembered

the meal they shared together, would he have known he was forgiven? Maybe he

would have stopped himself and walked the way of his Lord again.

Most families cannot be together this Christmas, the pandemic changing our

lives as it is. Other families cannot be together because they deny knowing each other,

or have betrayed each other. The nature of our days means we cannot change the first

issue, but the second issue… well, love can change that. Let love change that.

Action Item:

Clean out something in your closet that you haven’t worn and know you won’t. Give it

to someone who needs it.

Prayer:

God of love, you love me even when I deny you and betray you. This love has saved me over and

over. Grant that I remember your saving love all during this season. Amen.




Sometimes when I officiate weddings, if the couple doesn’t have a Scripture passage

they want me to use, I just use the separation of the sheep and goats passage in

Matthew 25. It is a judgment passage, and certainly not flowery and sentimental like

wedding services often can be. Why do I use such a passage? Because it is about doing

love, and not just some simple idea of being in love.

In this letter, Paul is writing to people who have a group within their ranks that

refuses to do anything to help the community. They are well and able, but decided that

since others are doing the work they won’t worry about it. Like children without a

chore to do, they lounged around all day waiting for the moment they could benefit

from the work of others. Paul takes a strict stance with such people while ultimately

saying, “Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.”

Advent is a season of penitence and repentance. The myriad of little ways we

have neglected the commandments of Christ to love God and love others and love

ourselves is a contraction of our high calling. We speak of loving others, but our words

are empty if the deeds of love do not follow them.

There is always something you can do to add to the love in the world. If you

have attempted to do the action items in this devotional book, you know the truth of

this. When we light the candle of Christmas that light burns the whole year long.

When I read from Matthew 25 at a wedding, I tell people I am about to join in a

union of holy matrimony that some days they will need to feed each other when they

are angry with each other. Some days one will be thirsty for attention when the other

doesn’t want to give attention. Some days it may feel like they wake up next to a

stranger and they still need to welcome each other. I tell them I hope they see Christ in

each other, even when they think of each other as the least of these. “Whatever you did

to the least of these who are members of my family, you did to me.”

Action Item:

Go through your house and find twelve things you don’t need anymore, one for each

day until Christmas. Donate them. In this way you simplify life and do love.

Prayer:

God of love, you endlessly call me to do the right thing, at the right moment, for the right reason.

This is love, and I pray that I walk in the light of your love my whole life long. Amen.

The Third Week of Advent - Joy

Sunday, December 13

Today’s Scripture - Luke 1:46b-55


Imagine Mary. She has the strangest news. She is a simple teenager, engaged to a

simple man, living in a town so simple the Old Testament never mentions it. She is

going to be the mother of God.

While I know what it is like to be called by God, I have no idea what this news

was like to hear. When God chased me, I ran away. The experience of my calling was a

bit more like Jonah. I had to be chased down, and occasionally chewed up and spit out.

Not Mary. She sang out in joy. Jeremiah said, “I’m just a boy.” Mary said, “My

soul magnified the Lord.” Moses said, “I cannot speak.” Mary said, “My spirit rejoices

in God my Savior.” Isaiah said, “Surely I am going to die for I am a man of unclean

lips.” Mary said, “God has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” Elijah

said, “I alone am left, and they’re going to kill me.” Mary said, “Surely, from now on all

generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me.”

Mary took the news of her calling, the highest calling there has ever been, with

utter joy. She knew her heart would break in ways she could not imagine, but she knew

God was breaking into the world through her and nothing would ever be the same. Her

joy could not be stopped because it was the joy of heaven.

I know the world is hard. I know the trials and temptations to overcome are

many and difficult. I know how easy it is to complain and get lost in anger over

humanity’s inhumanity to humanity. I know it often seems like joy was stillborn, if joy

was born at all. Mary knew, too, but knew God more. No wonder our Catholic sisters

and brothers pray to her. Whatever our Protestant sensibilities tell us about that, we

know why they do. They want to be like her. They want to know the joy of giving birth

to the Christ in the midst of a world that seems more tragic than magic. They want the

magic of Christmas. We all want that.

Whatever is happening this year that is trying to rob you of your joy, we are

waiting for the Christ. Maybe, if we look at her, Mary, the mother of Christ, she will

teach us to rejoice in that, too.

Action Item:

Do you have a sacred space in your home? Perhaps it is where you set up a nativity

scene or a Christmas tree. When the decorations go away, put something in your sacred

space to remind you to pray daily for the joy of Christmas.

Prayer: God of joy, give me the joy of that teenage girl who refused to be afraid when confronted

with the worst of the world, because in you she had the best in the world. Amen.

Monday, December 14

Today’s Scripture - 2 Peter 1:1-11


There are an infinite number of ways we could come up with to describe the divine

nature, and we would never be able to describe it all. As this seems to be true of beauty,

too, it is easiest for me to describe the divine nature as beautiful. That which is beautiful

is divine somehow, as if God used the divine self to paint, and sculpt, and sing, and

write, and speak, and dance, and fly everything that is beautiful into being.

You are beautiful! This is true because God made you. Oh, I know, the world is

often ugly, and it has done some ugly things to you, but what is more true is that you

are beautiful! Peter wanted people to know this, too. He knew that God gave us all the

power we needed to live this life beautifully. He also knew that sometimes people

forget they are beautiful and start doing ugly things. We all know that. Each of us has

both seen beautiful people do terrible things, and have done terrible things even though

we are beautiful people.

Advent invites us to ready ourselves for Christ again. It is a yearly invitation to

prepare a place within us for the Christ to be born. We do it yearly because, to be quite

frank, we forget as the year goes on.

This year it has been a lot easier to forget. Broken politics and severed discourse

have trickled down from Washington into our homes and our hearts. Goodness,

knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, and love have largely

been abandoned into the trash heap of our collective despair that manifests itself in self-

righteous rage and hate.

God showed up from down low in Bethlehem, away from the up high in Rome.

Jesus bubbled up from Nazareth instead of trickling down from Jerusalem. Peter told

people to escape the corruption of the world and participate in the divine nature

because of this. We need to start from the inside. Find your inner joy where you know

you are beautiful. Find where God’s light births into you. Let it shine.

Action Item:

Write five thank-you notes to people today. Gratitude is one of the purest forms of joy

because it gives your joy to the others.

Prayer:

God of joy, I am so often unable to see my own beauty. Remind me that I am your beloved, and

you see as me more beautiful than I can fathom. Amen.

Tuesday, December 15



I remember something Pope John Paul II said, “Do not abandon yourselves to despair.

We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.” Isaiah spoke of the day that

people who walked in darkness see a great light. A light shines on us, dear souls. The

light of God’s grace and love pours upon us. The joy of Christ is ours.

You can feel it, the truth of this. All that separates you from God is gone. The

story of Christ is that God became one of us to tell us we are loved. We did not believe

God in Christ, could not believe we could be loved. Instead of rejoicing we killed that

Love. But love is stronger than even death. Defeating the grave, Love burst forth again

telling us the truth. We are loved, and the joy of creation is ours.

In Yuba City a local group of musicians and singers come together every year

toward the middle of Advent to preform Handel’s Messiah. They cannot do it this year.

But years ago when I wasn’t feeling Christmas in my heart, they ended with the

Hallelujah Chorus and it was as if God grabbed onto me and light poured from me. The

One of whom they sang in “For Unto Us a Child is Born,” the “Wonderful Counselor,

Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,” poured into me as pure

light, as the great Chorus shook all of me. Hallelujah is our song. Sing it with joy, you

are the beloved of God after all.

Action Item:

They say all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish a single candle. Spend five

minutes staring at the three dancing candles of your Advent Wreath, or light a candle if

you don’t have a wreath. Bathe in the light. As you breathe in say, “Hal-le,” and as you

breathe out say, “lu-jah.”

Prayer:

God of joy, when I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, be my light and joy so the shadow

never overwhelms me. Amen.


Today’s Scripture - Mark 1:1-8


The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is about preparation.

This is true whether we hear the old stories about John the Baptizer perfectly playing

the role of crazy prophet talking in the wilderness about Jesus coming, or the old

spinster still setting up her nativity in a messy house and telling anyone who will listen

that he is coming again.

We would do well to listen to both of them. If we did, perhaps we would put

aside a bit of greed, a dash of rage, even gentle frustrations, and think, “If Jesus comes

right now I want to be my best.” Of course that takes a lot of work, and the ways that

we will fail might make us wonder if it is even worth trying in the first place.

Keep trying. When we figure out that our anger, hate, greed, and fear aren’t

helpful, we should try to let them go. When they come back, because such things

always do, they will try to be sneaky. They may even get into us again. Then we have to

let them go when we realize it has happened again. We do this, over and over. We let

the bad pieces within us go, over and over, that we may be filled with the joy that God

is coming, over and over. God is always coming. This is preparation. It is the beginning

of the good news. There is so much more.

Action Item:

Tonight have a simple meal. Soup and bread or beans and rice, just enough and no

more. Think of the people who do not have enough. What is one thing you can do to

serve them? Do it.

Prayer:

God of joy, make me grateful for whatever I have today, and empty me of those things which do

not give me gratitude, that I may do for others that which will help them praise your name.

Amen.


Today’s Scripture - Psalm 18:1-20

Reflection:

The psalm for today is a psalm of praise for God and the ways which God delivered the

one who wrote this ancient poem. Some people have stories of God saving them from

all sorts of things. Those who are recovering addicts speak of their Higher Power who

saves them daily from an endless cycle of addiction, depravity, and chaos. Parents who

tried for years to have children, thank God when an improbable little one is theirs.

People who have overcome illness, despair, painful circumstances, and so much more,

will find that it is because of God that they overcame.

What do we say to those who pray and nothing changes? I don’t know. But I do

know that God is with them. I do know that the whole idea of the Incarnation, that God

would be born as one of us, means that however messed up life gets, we are not alone. I

know this because even when I have felt most alone, I have seen over and over that God

has been, is, and will be with me.

Maybe today you can speak of overcoming because God delivered you. Or, and

if this is you, I am sorry, maybe today you feel prayed out and alone. If it is the former,

you can sing out with praise. However, some of the best singing out with praise I have

seen is when one sings silently in their soul, and simply sits with one who does not

even believe a song can be sung. If it is the latter, reach out to a friend, a mentor,

someone, and be with them so you are not alone.

Sometimes the best way to share our joy is to compassionately be with others

who do not have joy. We get to be with them, and hold joy, until one day, when they

are ready, they can hold joy, too. Then our inner solo of praise can become a duet of joy.

Action Item:

If you spend any time on social media today, take some time to make comments on

other people’s posts. Only say something joyful, though. If you do not have social

media, say something joyful to everyone you meet.

Prayer:

God of joy, I have known glorious days and awful days and every kind of day in between. Give

me praise in the glorious days, perseverance in the awful days, hope in the in-between days, and

joy no matter the day. Amen.

Friday, December 18



We cannot run away from the painful realities of our days. This last year, our country

continued to fracture at its very foundations. Most people in our country know at least

one person lost to Covid. This season of joy has been robbed of its traditions which

comfort so many. This psalm does not run away from the pain, because it knows it

can’t.

Life is so very fragile, and simultaneously more precious and of more worth than

we can ever understand. In our fragility, it is right to cry out to God, to wonder if God is

hiding, to beg God to show up, to speak of our lives honestly, unearth the pain we hide

for fear of dealing with it and fear of how others will treat it. This psalm invites us into

the deep realities of Advent. God was not born into an easy world, Christ did not live in

a world void of pain, and since his time there have been far more difficulties that come

and go.

God is also good. The ancient ways of Christ are still enthroned forever. The

Great Servant does not despise the prayers of the needy. Generations yet unborn will

certainly praise God. The world will keep moving until one day when it doesn’t. And

when it doesn’t any longer, we will still be secure in God. I can say still be secure,

because we are secure now, even if it does not feel like it.

Those who can do good amid the painful realities can do so because of the inner

joy that comes with the assurance that they are secure in God. No one can rob a person

of that assurance except themselves. The world may do its worst to you, but never let

go of the assurance that you are the beloved, the beautiful one, the joy of God. This

psalm unearths the day and offers it the joy of being with God.

Jesus went to work in the most painful places. He went toward his death offering

love and forgiveness. How? The joyful security that no matter what happened, God

would raise him up. God will raise you up, too. Joyfully do all the good you can do

until then.

Action Item:

Make a card, remember the artist that your inner child still tells you about. Make it with

all the joy you can muster. Send it to someone you know won’t have many people

around for Christmas. Give them your joy.

Prayer:

God of joy, hear my cries about all that is wrong in the world and in me. Then give me again the

gift of your Son so that I can share his joy in doing what I can. Amen.


Today’s Scripture - John 5:30-47


In this passage, Jesus was responding to a group of religious people who were upset

with him for healing on the Sabbath. He is explaining that he can heal because it is the

Father who works through him, and thereby the Father who testifies to who he is.

Joy is ours because God rejoices in us. When we try to find joy in things that are

not of God we may experience momentary happiness, we may have lots of fun, we may

find plenty of pleasure, but there is never lasting joy. When we try to find joy by

following a set of rules to get to God, we will think that those who find joy another way

must be wrong, for we will fear that our set of rules is wrong if theirs is right. Jesus

found joy by allowing the light of God to pour from him.

Sick people were healed, hungry people were fed, sinful people were forgiven,

lost people were included, joy abounded in the lives of those for whom the light of joy

was dim and near dead when Jesus arrived. His own light was so strong that it filled

those around him.

Advent is a season of waiting, but waiting while preparing. We prepare for Jesus

through hundreds of small acts of compassion, by forgiving ourselves our failures and

forgiving the failures of others, by allowing that light that still burns from Christ to fill

us and flow from us. In other words, we prepare by doing the work of the One who

sent Jesus.

Giving skyrockets at this time of year. The joy of the season, even in its secular

sense, turns us to examine Christ. Any examination of Christ, when done with even the

tiniest sense of wonder, comes with a baptism of light. That light then flows from us

and we look for ways to share the light. So examine Jesus with whatever wonder you

have. Even the smallest bit of wonder will be enough for you to see the joy of God.

Action Item:

Look at your budget. What is one thing you spend money on that you can do without

next year. Give it up, and choose to give that money you save to a church or charity. It

will be your joy offering.

Prayer:

God of joy, turn my eyes toward Jesus that I may see his light in the darkest of places. Amen.

The Fourth Week of Advent - Peace

Sunday, December 20

Today’s Scripture - Luke 1:5-25


The story of Christmas begins as a story of surprises. They are not unfamiliar surprises

to the Jewish people. The stories of children born to barren couples like Abraham and

Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, and Elkanah and Hannah were all Old Testament stories that a

priest like Zechariah knew. But they were old stories from old books. Certainly too

fanciful and absurd to be real for anyone like him. His world was fixed. He and

Elizabeth were not going to have any children, he even thought he was at peace with it.

Isaac, Joseph, and Samuel were gifts for people long ago, not for him.

Then Gabriel showed up when Zechariah was offering incense where God’s

presence was most real in the temple and told the old man, “Zechariah, you’re going to

be a dad.” He didn’t believe it, and so he didn’t get to say a word until the baby was

circumcised and named. He had to spend time in silence and think about what God was

doing.

His wife, Elizabeth, took time in silence, too, when for five months she just kept

herself away from others and thought, “Look what God has done for me!” When John

was finally born and named, his father burst out rejoicing like a madman howling at the

moon, ranting about how God was going to use his boy “to guide our feet into the way

of peace.”

Spending time in silence cultivates our inner peace, and allows us to consider

what God is doing, even if it seems too surprising to be true. Only those who have inner

peace are able to help bring about the peace of the Prince of Peace. For to know that

God brings us peace within, means that others can know this, too. We may well be the

ones to guide their feet in the way of peace. First, silently, we must discover it within

ourselves, however.

Action Item:

We get so busy around this time of year that sometimes we don’t take time to be at

peace within. Think of something you can say “no” to today. Instead, spend time in

silence and see what God is doing.

Prayer:

God of peace, silence within me the endless chatter of my mind that worries over everything.

Allow me to get lost in you and know your peace, that peacefully I become a peacemaker in this

world. Amen.

Monday, December 21



Often, when we think of peace, we think of peace in our world that is terrorized by

greed, hate, and violence. So much of the news describes the lack of peace in the world.

Normally, at this time of year, we use our time in church to wonder when peace will

come. We pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, our Prince of peace, and bring peace!”

All the while, inside ourselves there is no peace, either. We are at war with the

voices in our own heads that say we are not good enough, that we are failures,

mistakes, unlovable. There can be no peace without until there is peace within. Jesus

was the rare soul who had peace within. He offers us that same peace.

Isaiah shares the words he heard from the mouth of God. God said that the Holy

One will do amazing things. The wisdom of those who think they are wise shall perish.

Those who think they do not come from God will be astounded by the God they didn’t

know they had. The deaf shall hear. The blind shall see. The meek shall know joy, and

the needy shall sing praises. Tyrants shall be no more. Justice shall reign. Finally, peace

will cover the world.

But Isaiah does not end there. People will no longer be ashamed. When we see

children, we will see the work of God’s hands. Those who erred will understand, and

those who grumbled will submit to God. This is inner peace.

God promises both inner peace and world peace. In the person of Jesus we see

how inner peace begets world peace. Jesus knew who he was, and nothing done to him

could change that. The temptations from the devil, the temptations from disciples who

wanted him to fight, the temptation to save himself, nothing swayed him from knowing

who he was because he was at peace.

You are the beautiful beloved child of God, nothing else and nothing less. Hold

this peace today and submit to God’s desire and be instructed as to how you can help

create peace in this world.

Action Item:

Write a love letter from God to you. Pray, asking God what you should write. Consider

it your Christmas gift to yourself this year.

Prayer:

God of peace, I open my worrying and warring heart to you again. Pry open the gates to my

heart if I try to keep them shut. Fill my broken love with your perfect love that I may be healed

and work to heal the world in whatever little way I am called. Amen.

Tuesday, December 22

Today’s Scripture - Revelation 21:22-22:5


When we approach the last two chapters of the Bible we do so with awe. Awe is not

indicative of the trite way we use the word “awesome,” but something that is more like

wonder and reverential fear. The word “awe” is the root of both “awesome” and

“awful.” Both words suggest something so wonderful and terrible that we are shaken to

our core.

It is why we can sigh at the wonder of holding a child, our child, for the first

time, “Wow,” and realize life will never be the same. It is both beautiful and scary. I

remember my father telling me stories of bringing me home. I was the first born child of

my young parents. When he held me for the first time, he was terrified by the prospect

of having his baby at home. He was also in love. It was awesome and awful.

I only came to understand what he meant when I held my firstborn. There are

such moments in life that we approach with awe because, however wonderful we know

they are, they also terrify us because they change everything.

Our Advent journey is getting close to its purpose, which is the movement from

the anticipation to the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. We

take this journey every year to remind us that we need, continually, to be born with him

again. We get to be born into total light, into a life where there is no night, where the

river of life flows through our days and our living. In the life of Jesus, heaven and earth

became one in a way that cannot be reversed or stopped.

God’s vision of creation will come to pass, and already has. Christmas is our

yearly invitation to live into it here, even though it is not all the way yet. This is

wonderful and terrifying. It is also the dream of God’s Shalom that has been awakening

since Christ was born. Dare we hold him this year and realize he is ours to take home?

Dare we not?

Action Item:

Do something that costs nothing today, but is amazing. Take a hike, a drive, meditate

on the beginning of creation, do something that is free because it’s priceless.

Prayer:

God of peace, I am coming to understand that in my waiting for your peace I am preparing

myself for a life that is totally transformed. Empower me to live that life now. Amen.




Isaiah’s vision of what will be is sandwiched between him sharing his sincerest belief

that we will see the King in his beauty, and that God is our King, and it is God who will

save us. This is the foundation of all peace. Our inner peace only exists because of the

inner knowledge that we will see divinity and beauty everywhere.

The one who is at peace sees beauty everywhere, and knows that all that is truly

ugly is hate, and its children, violence and greed and ignorance. The one who is at

peace also knows that hate cannot stop hate. Jesus told us to love in the face of hate,

because only love can stop hate. The one who is at peace lives in love, and knows that

God will save those who live in love. They therefore live their life for God, they call

themselves slaves to Christ, followers of the Way, and Christians.

The word “Christian” comes from the Greek word “Christos,” combined with a

Latin suffix that means “belonging to.” This belonging to connotes that we are owned

by the Christ. This is the King we are awaiting. The One born over 2000 years ago and

who has come again, and again, and again, and will come again. Each Christmas we

celebrate that he comes again right now. He demands our lives, having given his life for

us so that we know our lives are his. He chose all of us, and chooses us still.

To accept his eternal choice of us, is to give ourselves to him. Should everyone

accept his choice of them, there would be no more injustice, no more hate, and no more

war. Some may call me naive. I’m not; it is the promise of God that Isaiah knew, too,

and that Christmas makes real.

Action Item:

Think of someone who doesn’t like you. Write them a letter telling them what you like

about them. You don’t have to send it, but simply writing such a letter will help love

conquer hate.

Prayer:

God of peace, in the face of any way I have ever chosen hate, you loved me and you chose me.

Help me choose you, too, this Christmas. Help me choose you all the way. Amen.

Christmas Eve


Today’s Scripture - Philippians 2:5-11


Christmas Eve is here. Our celebrations begin in full today. All of our preparation has

led us to this moment when we celebrate the birth of the One, who, as Paul said in

today’s Scripture, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited, but emptied himself and took on the form of a slave, only

to be lifted up by God and given the name above every name.”

We remember that he was born a refugee. His mother had no bed to lie in. At

best, dirty hay was what Mary found as comfort from the ground and filth. We do not

worship a Lord that is powerful and mighty as we think of power and might. We

worship the One who came in such humble peace that in the twenty centuries that have

passed, it still doesn’t make sense. But we know that in doing so he lit the first candle of

Christmas.

Now we are those who follow him. Certainly we have not been perfect followers,

but the past, our whole lives, have only led us to this strange moment during this hard

year. We are lighting our candles of Christmas, and we will keep them lit the whole

year long. Remember how Scrooge kept Christmas in his heart all the time, after the

visitation from those three spirits? All of his life led him to that moment, too.

Let your ego go. Abandon your pride. Learn from the One who is gentle and

humble of heart. Keep that candle lit and be at peace. Later in this letter, Paul would call

it the peace that surpasses understanding. Much like we cannot fully understand that

God would show up like Jesus did, and die like Jesus died, and be exalted like Jesus is,

there is peace we cannot understand. Regardless of whether or not we can understand

it, it is ours. Rejoice, dear soul, rejoice!

Action Item:

Figure out some way to be a part of a Christmas Eve service. Online, by calling some

family and reading the familiar Scriptures, or anything else. It does not matter if it is not

grand, the first Christmas wasn’t grand either.

Prayer:

God of peace, on this eve of the birth of your Son, help me let go of my ego that tells me I can only

celebrate you in familiar ways. May the new and humble ways I celebrate you be a gift to those

who come after me, as they will be to me. Amen.

Christmas Day

Friday, December 25

Today’s Scripture - John 1:1-14


Normally I wouldn’t bother to write a Christmas Day devotional. I figure most people

get too busy to bother with it. But this year is different. We haven’t run from the

realities of our days during this Advent journey, and we cannot run from them this

Christmas, either.

So we will not run, but neither will we give up. What came into the world was

life, and the life was the light of all people. That light still shines in the darkness, and

the darkness does not overcome it. Jesus calls us the light of the world. Paul calls us

children of the light. When we receive him, this is what we become. Then we are born

not of the flesh, or the will of people, but of God. The eternal Word, the Light, became

flesh and it lived and still lives among us, full of grace and truth.

Receive him, be born of him, and live as light made flesh, full of grace and truth.

Light the candles of Christmas and do not extinguish them. Light the candle of hope,

love, joy, peace, and Christ. These are God’s gifts to us, and our gifts to give to others. It

is Christmas Day and we never have to be the same.

The world may seem covered in darkness as we cannot have traditional

Christmas celebrations, as people are dying, as politics continue to divide, as hate

breeds hate, but we have received the Christ, the Prince of Peace, the Light of lights, the

One no darkness can overcome. Do not put him away with the decorations. Use that

sacred place in your home and in your heart to worship him endlessly. Use the temple

that is body, mind, heart, and soul so that the presence of God pours from you.

Wouldn’t it be something if this Christmas, instead of simply giving and

receiving gifts for a day, we became the gift God desires for this world? Let’s find out

what it will be like!

Action Item:

Celebrate Christmas with all the hope, love, joy, and peace you can. Do it everyday.

Prayer:

God of Christmas, be born anew in me today, that a world awaiting you may find you in me.

Amen.

Awaiting God Avent and Christmas Devotional 2020

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Transcript of Awaiting God Avent and Christmas Devotional 2020