Multimedia Advent Devotional – Week 3-1, Sunday
2024:
Week 3, Sunday:
• Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-18a (Dawn Roberson)
• Reflection (Karen Sculley)
• Prayer (Pam Cammarata)
• Artwork: “Nativity with Virgin Mary, Three Wise Men and Angels” (Clementine Hunter)
• Music: “Zephaniah 3:17” (Rebecca Goldsmith) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pr8nRzwhek
Reflection on Zephaniah 3:14-18a – What do you fear? Everybody is afraid of something. A recent university survey includes the following in the top 10 fears of 2024: corrupt government officials, loved ones becoming seriously ill, cyberterrorism, loved ones dying, use of nuclear weapons, and not having enough money for the future. These are all scary things! I’ve lost count of the number of times that some news story has stoked or started some kind of fear in my own heart or mind.
Fear is an inevitable part of life because although it is intensely unpleasant, it is a raw and real human response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. It’s not a matter of if we are afraid, but when we are afraid. Thankfully, today’s Scripture gives us a prescription for how to act in the face of fear:
• Sing aloud
• Shout
• Rejoice and exult with all your heart
• Do not fear
• Do not trust your own efforts
It’s important to know that we don’t need to just muster up the willpower to do these things on our own. Today’s Scripture also provides a firm foundation upon which to stand in the face of fear:
• Because we are God’s beloved children, we are free to worship God wholeheartedly.
• Because God is in our midst, the Lord takes away judgments and turns away enemies from us.
• Because the Lord God is the king, we do not need to fear disaster.
• Because God is a warrior, we do not need to pursue victory.
This scripture promises us that as we sing, shout, rejoice, and exult in God, God will rejoice over us with gladness, God will exult over us with loud singing, and God will renew us in his love! Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you understand our fears. Thank you that you meet us in the middle of our fears, and you set us free to truly live in shalom, the place of wholeness, flourishing and delight! For the greater glory of God!
2023:
Week 3, Sunday:
- Scripture – Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11 (Tamera Neal)
- Reflection (Karen Sculley)
- Prayer (Faith)
- Artwork: “Sketch and Study: Nativity” (Rembrandt)
- Music: “Isaiah 61” (The Awakening Music) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyU3o0WFO7g
Reflection on Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11 – “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God … I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”
This prophecy was given by Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus stood up and read from this scroll in the synagogue in Nazareth. Jesus then sat down and remarked “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In saying that, Jesus was not only describing what his ministry would look like but also declaring himself to be the prophet sent by God who would fulfill Isaiah’s beautiful prophetic words, words of hope regarding the restoration of God’s people, the transformation of creation, and the manifestation of divine salvation. In essence, Jesus was announcing, “Here I am! Let the restoration, transformation, and salvation begin!” And that’s exactly what began to happen and is still happening today through followers of Jesus all over the world.
I love how Isaiah uses a garden metaphor to help readers understand what the Kingdom of God is like. For many years we’ve had bamboo in our back yard. It is the fastest growing plant in the world, some varieties growing as much as 35 inches in a single day. Bamboo plants spring up from the ground and reach their full height in only 3-4 months. I don’t look at our little bamboo thicket every day, but it grows and spreads so rapidly that sometimes I glance out there and wonder how a whole section seemed to spring up out of nowhere. Where there had been nothing in particular going on, there was now a flourishing forest. That’s what Isaiah is telling us the Kingdom of God is like. God makes righteousness and praise spring up. We may have prayed for someone or some group for many years without noticing much happening. And then suddenly we get glimpses of restoration, salvation, or transformation. God is always working, always doing a good, holy, and beautiful work in each person and place in the world. Our job is to love God and love people with all of our passion, prayer, intelligence, and energy. When we notice the Spirit of God doing something, that’s our invitation to join in by rolling our sleeves up and doing whatever we can to encourage, fertilize, and nurture growth. God is faithful to make righteousness and praise to spring up, not just in a quiet corner, but in every possible person, group, and place, before all nations. May the Lord give us vision and imagination to notice what God is doing; faith and hope to believe that God can restore, save, and transform every person and place; courage and perseverance to follow Jesus wherever and however he leads; all in the love and power of the Holy Spirit!
2022:
Week 3, Sunday:
- Scripture: Psalm 121 (Karen Sculley)
- Reflection (John Trotter)
- Prayer (Paul Sculley)
- Artwork: “Magnificat on Silk” (Uttar Pradesh, India)
- Music: “I raise my eyes toward the mountains” (Karen Sculley) – https://youtu.be/9HCpRSHDQSk
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
