Multimedia Advent Devotional – Week 3-5, Thursday
2024:
Week 3, Thursday:
• Scripture: Psalm 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17 (Karen Sculley)
• Reflection (Jim Roberson)
• Prayer (Ally Vick)
• Artwork: “Christ in the Manger” (Francis Musango)
• Music: “Ever Praise You” (Olly Kiff (feat. Alison Kiff)) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztQrD9drEPY
2023:
Week 3, Thursday:
- Scripture – Luke 1:39-45 (Karis Sculley)
- Reflection (Karen Sculley)
- Prayer (Kelsey Vick)
- Artwork: “Untitled (Nativity)” (Keith Haring)
- Music: “Promises Never Fail” (Bethel Music) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ7nO0al-fs
Reflection on Luke 1:39-45 – “At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!’”
Elizabeth is one of the lesser-known characters in the Christmas story. Everything we know about her comes from the gospel of Luke, chapter 1. We are told that she didn’t have any children because she was barren. Perhaps because of the many social, economic, and religious stigmas associated with childlessness, Luke challenges the common misconceptions by describing both Elizabeth and her husband as “righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.” Luke also mentions that they were both getting on in years, to be sure we realized there was basically no chance of children at this stage of their lives.
One day, Zechariah, her husband, a priest, was on duty in the temple, when he was chosen to offer incense in the sanctuary of the Lord. During the incense offering, an angel of the Lord appeared to him. Long story short, the angel announced that he and Elizabeth were going to have a son, who would end up being known as John the Baptist. Often when this part of the story is told, the focus is on Zechariah. But what about Elizabeth?
Luke records that after conceiving her child and remaining in seclusion for five months, Elizabeth says, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.” Think of the long years of disgrace that Elizabeth had endured among her people. Think of the judgmental comments and disparaging looks to which she was subjected on a daily basis. Think of the assumptions people made as to what sins she must surely have committed to miss out on the blessing of motherhood. Think of the draining questions she fielded because she and her husband had no one to support them in their old age. Think of the innumerable ways she’d been marginalized as a woman, since most of her community assumed that barrenness was a defect of the wife. Think of the spiritual abuse she’d had laid on her because religious teachers generally insisted that a man divorce a childless wife so he could procreate.
And then suddenly everything changed. God often tells us the what without explaining the why. Elizabeth’s life was transformed, her hope was revived, her future was reframed. As the mother of the one who would prepare the way for the Lord, Elizabeth played a key role in the Christmas story. In Elizabeth’s story, we are encouraged to remain faithful to God no matter what our circumstances. We are encouraged to hope in God even if things turn out different from what we had expected. We are encouraged to love God and love people regardless of how they treat us.
A month later, Elizabeth gets a visit from her relative Mary, who has conceived by the Holy Spirit and is pregnant with Jesus. In today’s Scripture, let’s not miss the significance that it is through Elizabeth that God chooses to speak, in order to confirm for Mary what God is doing in her. Elizabeth blesses Mary. Elizabeth blesses Jesus in Mary’s womb, calling him “my Lord.” May we, along with Elizabeth, enter the happiness of believing that God is always faithful and will fulfill all of his promises!
2022:
Week 3, Thursday:
- Scripture: Galatians 3:23-29 (Nancy Penton)
- Reflection (Karen Sculley)
- Prayer (Jim Roberson)
- Artwork: “Annunciation of the Angel to Mary” (Nigeria)
- Music: “O Come O Come Emmanuel” (The Civil Wars) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGyRAhpgQo
Reflection on Galatians 3:23-29 (NRSV) – “Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”
The Greek word translated “Christ” means “The Anointed One” and comes from the Hebrew word meaning “Messiah.” By fulfilling messianic prophecies in His coming, life, mission, death, and resurrection, Christ Jesus demonstrated that, in addition to being fully human, He was the Son of God and God the Son. As Messiah, Christ Jesus has inaugurated the Kingdom of God, which we believe to be already but not yet fully here. The Kingdom of God can break through at any moment in salvation, signs and wonders, social justice, and more. There is so much good news! There’s an astounding and important declaration in today’s Scripture – no one is excluded from the good news of the Kingdom of God. God, through Christ Jesus, has done away with all of the old barriers of race, status, and gender. It doesn’t mean that differences don’t exist. But it does mean that in Christ we are united, we are one humanity. As we remember the coming of Christ this Christmas, let us remember that in God’s eyes, each and every person is, as a bearer of the image of God, of infinite worth. Each one is invited, welcomed, included, and embraced by God. Our job as those who present ourselves as Christians, literally “little Christs” is to also invite, welcome, include, and embrace each person, to love as Jesus loved. We have work to do to sort out injustices in the world. We have work to do to break down barriers between people. We have work to do to be best known by our love for one another. Let’s start today by remembering that in Christ Jesus, we are all one.
Each short Multimedia Advent Devotional is an invitation to set aside time each day during a typically busy season preparing for Christmas to rejoice in the coming of our Savior, Christ Jesus, and to respond to God’s invitation to us to join with Him in what He’s doing today.
Advent is a season of the liturgical year observed in most Christian denominations as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity and is part of the wider Christmas and holiday season. Advent is a period in which we are invited to set aside time each day during a typically busy season preparing for Christmas to rejoice in the coming of our Savior, Christ Jesus, and to respond to God’s invitation to us to join with Him in what He’s doing today.
This collaboration is brought to you by Liberty Vineyard Church
