Advent
December 9, 2015

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 12:2-6

And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted.  

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
   let this be known in all the earth.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
   for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. –Isaiah 12:4-6

The God of Abraham, Moses, David, and Isaiah was worthy of praise and greater than all our fears, all that oppresses, and all that rules falsely. And then came Jesus who knew and named the women left out of the former listing, who recognized oppression as a symptom in need of a cure, and who provided his love as the balm to heal sin sick souls*. He experienced humanness and learned from first hand acquaintance the joys and sorrows of life. He, more than any other, understood the power of hate and that love was the only response to overcome hate.

We are a world full of sin sick souls, and just like so many of us whose doctor’s tell us to eat right, get plenty of exercise, and rest as a means of being healthy, we want a magic fix. We want to have our cake and eat it too. We want to be able to pick and choose who we love and choose what they believe and how they live. Loving like Jesus loved is like being on a tightrope without a safety harness. The only thing we are responsible for is carefully placing one foot of loving in front of the other as we move across the tightrope of life trusting that Jesus has our back all the way. I think God would be thrilled, if we would just try loving with a harness like training wheels at least until we get the hang of it.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the courage to try to love outside our comfort zone just a bit. Amen.

*From the spiritual There is a Balm in Gilead see at http://www.hymnary.org/text/sometimes_i_feel_discouraged_spiritual

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.