Sculley Family

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Multimedia Advent Devotional – Week 3-5, Thursday

December 20, 2023

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

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.

This collaboration is brought to you by Liberty Vineyard Church

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

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.

This collaboration is brought to you by Liberty Vineyard Church

Reflection:

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.

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