Thought for Today
Deuteronomy 4:9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children--
Psalm 5:3 O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
Matthew 24:42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming . . . 44 you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
Yesterday, I wrote about Advent and Star Trek, This morning, I’m still focused on the approach of Advent. Sunday, on the first Sunday of Advent, 2 of the songs we will sing seemed especially appropriate as I read this morning’s devotional in These Days. The title of that devotional is Awake and Aware, and those verses above are part of the passage from Matthew that is the suggested reading for today. The 2 songs we will be singing Sunday are Watchman, Tell Us of the Night and The Baptist Shouts on Jordon’s Shore.
Those 2 songs are often associated with Advent, much more so than is Star Trek. Yet, somehow in my own mind, I see all of these things dealing with much the same topic. My training as an engineer taught me to be cautious and judicious in defining terms and conditions, to be as careful and as deliberate as possible in order to make sure the problem is correctly defined and the solution is appropriate and applicable to the problem.
My Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms says of advent, “(Lat. adventus, ‘coming’) In reference to Christ, the first advent is his incarnation; the second is his future second coming. Also used for the first season of the Christian year, Advent, in which the coming of Jesus Christ is anticipated.” (pg. 4) Just to be cautious, judicious, careful and deliberate, what we are dealing with right now (I think) is that first advent and our celebration of the Advent Season on the 4 Sundays preceding Christmas Day.
That parenthetical phrase I inserted in the previous paragraph is in part a realization of the truth in those 2 verses from Matthew. Earlier in that same chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus said about the second coming, "24:36 But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
During this Advent Season, we anticipate that first coming. I’ll leave to the historians, theologians and biblical scholars the discussions about the factual accuracy of December 25th being celebrated as the birthday of Jesus. “In fact, for the first three centuries of Christianity’s existence, Jesus Christ’s birth wasn’t celebrated at all. The religion’s most significant holidays were Epiphany on January 6, which commemorated the arrival of the Magi after Jesus’ birth, and Easter, which celebrated Jesus’ resurrection. The first official mention of December 25 as a holiday honoring Jesus’ birthday appears in an early Roman calendar from AD 336.” (www.history.com)
We do not call out to that Watchman, we do not listen to the cry of the Baptist on Jordon’s shore this season because of the historical accuracy of December 25th as Jesus’ birthday. All of the celebration, all of the festivities and traditions, all of the anticipation is not for a date, it is for the historical reality of not the birth date, but of the birth itself. Irrespective of why December 25th was chosen, because of some pagan holiday or some supposed birth announcement in the Jerusalem Temple News (yes, I did make that up) as Christians we look toward the fact of the Son of God being born, the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “9:6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Sometimes lost in all the commercial hype, in all the television specials, in the endless shopping mall music playing The Little Drummer Boy or Frosty the Snowman, there is still the reality of John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . . “ If that doesn’t deserve a special holiday, a season of anticipation and excitement, I cannot imagine what would.
During these next few weeks, take some time to still your mind, to turn off all the electronic distractions and ponder upon the true miracle of this season. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. God still loves the world. We are saved, our relationship with our Creator God has been restored by our faith in that Son. Maybe it is not a coincidence of the calendar that Thanksgiving and Christmas are so close together!
Stay safe, celebrate God’s gift of God’s Son, trust God,
Pastor Ray