Advent
December 3, 2015

Scripture Reading: Philippians 1:3-11

And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. –Philippians 1:9-11

Learning on the run is what most of us have been doing all our lives. We see it in the face of infants when the Aha! moment strikes and their brains record, “so that is how I do that.” And then they often try it over and over again to make sure it stays in their brains, I suppose. We don’t think about it much as we get older but we still learn or, I hope, I am still learning.

The challenge is to actually learn and keep on running. Our call from Christ is an engaged and active call. Yet here we sit in the midst of Advent waiting. What is engaged and active waiting? Pregnancy certainly is. The future mom supported by the future dad exercises, eats right, reads everything they can find on nurturing children, and counts down the days until the birth. We follow that same course as we tread the path with Mary and Joseph pondering the miracle of birth, wondering exactly who this expected child is and will become.

Mary and Joseph’s child came and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. He told us that we were to be actively engaged in preparation for the full fruition of God’s Kingdom. We are still required to learn on the run to grow in God’s truth and to manifest God’s love to the ends of the earth. We may stumble occasionally, even fall, but we never run alone and Christ is always their right beside us teaching through his love.

Prayer: Lord, instill in each of us the desire and ability to seek your truth in all of our running to serve you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.