Advent
December 22, 2019
Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25
She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. –Matthew 1:21-25
Jesus’ name from the Hebrew Yehoshua/Jehoshua, contracted to Joshua* means Yahweh saves. God creates, God loves us enough to grant us freewill, and God saves us because a mass of humans blessed with freewill sometimes gets things wrong. I think God longs for us to discover what is right, what is just and live righteousness and justice as a choice. The original design of God’s world has its foundation in love, and it will thrive only when we learn to form our lives around love. God set out rules for us to follow to help us live justly. God sent prophets to correct our course. God finally came to dwell among us to show us the ways of love.
We innately know what is right. Rightness comes out in times of disasters. Here in Oklahoma we dubbed it the Oklahoma Standard following the Oklahoma City bombing when most stopped what they were doing and tried to fix what was so terribly broken. What we as God’s people do not seem able to do is sustain God’s love n the good times. The Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team is in a rebuilding mode with different lead players and a host of talented new team members. They have flashes of being a great team, but the coaches and the team members know championships are not won with burst of fervor. They are won by playing a full 48 minutes of quality play with each member of the team and all the coaches giving it their best shot at both offense and defense in every game. The Kingdom of God will be fully actualized when we each and all invest a full lifetime of commitment to loving like God with Us.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for coming to dwell among us showing us how to love and to sustain a world ruled by love. Grant us the synergy with your abiding love to sustain our work at all times toward that vision. Amen.
*https://biblehub.com/greek/2424.htm
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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.