Advent
December 18, 2020
Scripture Reading:
Romans 16:25-27
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
Seeking God’s guidance in how we live our faith is key to everything we do. Understanding God’s guidance requires us, as with our computers continually, to clear the cookies that send us in wrong directions or clutter our storage space so much we do not have room in our souls to receive God’s righteousness. We must do this regarding every aspect of life. I remember sticking my arm out to protect a foster child I was transporting when I had to slam on my brakes to miss an animal in the road. My arm would have been useless if that had been a car pulling in front of me. So, we now have seat belts and child seats. I had no problem adapting to seatbelts, but a lot of people did, some still do.
It is sometimes harder to reassess faith issues, often handed to us by parents or respected faith leaders. Both were doing their best to train up their children in the way they should go* at the time. My ancestors who owned slaves, probably referred to passages in the Bible to support that practice. Polygamy was as much an economic reality as a faith construct. Having been raised on a farm, I can assure you that the women worked as hard as the men. They just had different duties. Those same duties changed when industrialization increased. Such changes have resulted in imbalances of worth among occupations. Gleaning what is right, what is just, requires God’s enlightenment from well-practiced communication individually and in communion with other people of faith. Such dialogue must include a careful discernment of how our worldview shapes our faith rather than the example of Jesus Christ and God’s righteousness.
*See Proverbs 22:6
Prayer: Lord, help us discern your righteousness and justice as we serve you in this world today. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.