Advent

November 25, 2021

Scripture Reading:
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

When Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, writers of the musical Oklahoma, wrote the line Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain, they clearly had direct knowledge of the weather in Oklahoma. I just returned from a graveside service in a cemetery on that plain where it was 60 degrees, and the winds were blowing 23 miles an hour with much higher gusts. The person whose life was being celebrated was a member of my church. Two women and one man I expected to see were there. They are always there when needed, quietly serving, hugging the family, sharing favorite memories, loving like Jesus. One shared with the daughter of the deceased that she received the call about her mother’s death just after the woman had finished baking the mother’s favorite bread; with no sugar, she could not have sugar. I walked to my car with the other woman I knew would be there, who said since she was out this way, she thought she would visit another lady from the church who lived in a nearby assisted living facility. That lady had just lost her brother. The behavior of these women is as much a part of their being as breath itself.

Indeed, how can we thank God enough for people like that in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of them?

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for wonderful role models that model their lives after yours. 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.