{"id":24002,"date":"2019-12-02T20:02:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T20:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/?p=24002"},"modified":"2023-08-01T15:20:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T15:20:26","slug":"reflection-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/reflection-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection: Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″ transparent_background=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” max_width=”750px” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”on” custom_width_px=”750px”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_button button_url=”http:\/\/sangabpres.org\/?page_id=3027″ button_text=”Return to Reflections” button_alignment=”right” _builder_version=”3.16″ custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”14″ button_text_color=”#e09900″ button_border_color=”#e09900″ background_layout=”dark” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”on” button_letter_spacing__hover=”0″ button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”][\/et_pb_button][et_pb_post_title categories=”off” comments=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.87″ parallax_effect=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_divider show_divider=”off” disabled_on=”on|on|off” _builder_version=”3.23.4″ height=”4px” hide_on_mobile=”on”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.7″ header_font=”|on|||” header_font_size=”66px” header_line_height=”1.7em” text_orientation=”justified” max_width=”750px” hover_enabled=”0″ use_border_color=”off”]
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As we work together with God, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For God says,
\u201cAt an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.\u201d
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!<\/h2>\n

2 Corinthians 6:1-2<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I hope you had a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you have entered the season of Advent with eyes open to the wonders that God has in store for us.<\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to mark the beginning of Advent by preaching twice yesterday, including for the 4 pm vespers service at Monte Vista Grove Homes\u2019 Health Center.\u00a0 This is an opportunity to reach out to folks who cannot go to church, and because the Health Center (the skilled nursing arm of Monte Vista Grove) usually has people from the outside community as well as Grove residents, it helps to offer hope to folks from within and outside our Presbyterian family.\u00a0 Bill Van Loan, who coordinates the vespers service along with the Chaplaincy Committee, told me that they would appreciate volunteers who would like to offer God\u2019s Word to this community, so please let him or me know if you are interested.\u00a0 It\u2019s a 30-minute service with music and support offered by resident volunteers like Roberta Woodberry and Mark Duntley, and I was encouraged to see several family members who attended along with their loved ones.<\/p>\n

My morning sermon was at a church where I was asked to focus on some of the \u201cback story\u201d that is the Old Testament narrative.\u00a0 We Presbyterians honor the Old Testament not only as the story of God\u2019s care for God\u2019s chosen people, and so now God\u2019s care for us, but also it is the Bible that Jesus grew up with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Focusing on the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, is especially relevant during Advent, because the prophecies of the Old Testament informed the Jews as they yearned for God\u2019s salvation, especially through the years from the heydays of King David to the centuries of destruction, occupation, exile, oppression, and political betrayal leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others promised that God would bring forth a new king from the house of David who would restore Israel in a state of justice and righteousness.\u00a0 How the people imagined this new king would look, and how he would accomplish this restoration, guided those centuries of hope and expectation.\u00a0 For us, this hope culminates in the birth of the humble, displaced baby Jesus.\u00a0 For others, they couldn\u2019t believe this rebel carpenter\u2019s son was the Messiah, the Anointed One.<\/p>\n

If we really try to enter into the yearnings of the people of Judah, we gain a sense of the hunger, the faithfulness, the frustration, the persistent hope, and the ease with which people will follow the wrong path in order to survive\u2014all that and more I cannot even imagine must have been mixed into the spiritual psyche of the Jewish people during that time so many years ago, when the emperor Augustus called for the census that caused the young pregnant woman Mary to go with her fianc\u00e9 Joseph to Bethlehem.<\/p>\n

As we enter into this season of Advent, let us not rush ahead to the happy ending, but dwell a little on the feelings we have in common with those Judeans of 2,000 years ago\u2014feelings of need for God\u2019s care, a yearning for justice, and a determined hope for a better life of righteousness and peace for all.\u00a0 We live in the faith that God does hear us when we cry out to God, just as God has heard God\u2019s people over the millenia.\u00a0 As we open our hearts to our need for salvation, let us appreciate anew the gift of God coming to us in Jesus the Christ.<\/p>\n

Poet-scholar David Rosenberg restated portions of the Hebrew Bible in his book A Poet\u2019s Bible.<\/em>\u00a0 His version of Psalm 90, captures for me the hope that is Advent:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

and for every day lost<\/p>\n

we find a new day<\/p>\n

revealing where we are<\/p>\n

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in the future and in the past<\/p>\n

together again<\/p>\n

this moment with you<\/p>\n

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made human for us<\/p>\n

to see your work<\/p>\n

in the open-eyed grace of children<\/p>\n

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the whole vision unlocked<\/p>\n

from darkness<\/p>\n

to the thrill of light<\/p>\n

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where our hands reach for another\u2019s<\/p>\n

opening to life<\/p>\n

in our heart\u2019s flow<\/p>\n

the work of this hand<\/p>\n

flowing open<\/p>\n

to you and from you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As we confess our need for God\u2019s love, may we appreciate all the more God\u2019s willingness to come and be with us, to be one of us, to reach out his grace-filled hands to love and heal us and even partner with us\u2014and then we will see that thrill of light, and welcome the day of salvation that is here, and now.<\/p>\n

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Peace,<\/p>\n

Wendy<\/p>\n

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As we work together with God, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For God says, \u201cAt an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.\u201d See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24002"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24008,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24002\/revisions\/24008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}