Multimedia Advent Devotional – Week 2-2, Monday
2024:
Week 2, Monday:
• Scripture: Luke 1:26-38 (Vinnie Kelly)
• Reflection (Karen Sculley)
• Prayer (Jeanne Vick)
• Artwork: “Annunciation” (Alexandr Ivanov)
• Music: “Forever You Will Reign” (Kyle Howard) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OP0dYj193E
Reflection on Luke 1:26-38 – Sometimes when we read a story in the Bible, we might nod and think, “Yes, that is just how I think I’d respond if I were in that same situation.” But then there are stories like this one, full of highly unusual details surrounding a set of unique circumstances that would occur only once in the long story of humanity. An angelic visitation; the bestowal of the Most High God’s favor to an unmarried girl, a person with no social status living in a place equally devoid of status; the promise of a child to be born to a virgin; the promise of the Holy Spirit coming upon her in power; the promise that the child would be the holy Son of God and the king of an eternal kingdom. And, perhaps most stunningly of all, the response of young Mary, who simply said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Mary could have clung to her reputation and her rights. She could have blurted out whatever crossed her mind. She could have demanded more explanations. She could have asked innumerable questions. She could have allowed her fear to dominate her. She could have doubted God’s promises. She could have half-heartedly agreed. She could have refused to participate.
It is not hard for us to imagine other ways in which Mary could have responded because of the sin in our own hearts. This confession from the Book of Common Prayer helps us to acknowledge our brokenness – in thought, word, and deed – and to receive God’s forgiveness: “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.”
Mary, in her perplexity, pondered what the angel said. She graciously rested in the peace of God. She gratefully yielded to the power of God. She eagerly trusted in the promises of God. She humbly received the provision of God. She wholeheartedly embraced being present in the presence of God. Mary chose total surrender, entrusting herself fully into God’s hands. May God give us the grace to respond like Mary: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.“
2023:
Week 2, Monday:
- Scripture – Luke 5:17-26 (Nancy Penton)
- Reflection (Judi Campbell)
- Prayer (Jeanne Vick)
- Artwork: “Adoration of the Shepherds” (Correggio)
- Music: “I Stand Amazed” (Dorothy Chipo) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVJRfrAKMPA
2022:
Week 2, Monday:
- Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (Michael Sculley)
- Reflection (Karen Sculley)
- Prayer (Nancy Penton)
- Artwork: “Tree of Jesse” (Paris, France)
- Music: “Maranatha, come Lord Jesus” (Lindy Cofer) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObSO_hs8i0Y
Reflection on 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (NIV) – “As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit. Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
Today’s Scripture passage is all about living a life that is pleasing to God. In this Advent season, we remember the coming of Christ Jesus, who came so that we could, through Him, be saved and enter into life. It pleases God when we live this kind of continuous, all-around, abundant life! After all, God wants to give it to us. The decision each of us needs to make is whether or not we will receive and enter into Jesus Christ’s abundant life.
We are told quite plainly in today’s verses that it is God’s will that we be sanctified. What this means is that it is God’s desire to set us apart, to make us holy, to distinguish us as special to Him. He does these things, sanctifies us, through His Holy Spirit in a process by which we are progressively transformed by the Lord into His likeness. In this process, our very nature, who we are on the inside, becomes more and more similar to God’s, enabling us to become more loving persons. In Christ, there is one sense in which our hearts and lives are immediately changed. But our hearts and lives are also changed little by little, as we make one small choice after another to love as God loves. We ourselves have been taught by God to love each other. Yet we are urged to do so more and more. God’s love in us expands and abounds, by the power of the Holy Spirit, expressed in acts of love that flow from our transformed hearts and lives. This pleases God! May the abundant life and abounding love of Christ Jesus flow in and through us, for the greater glory of God!
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
