Hope

First Week of Advent
Friday December 6, 2013

Read: Psalm 30:19-26 

Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’—Isaiah 30:20-21 

Two years older than I am, my sister may have been my first “teacher”. From the date she started first grade, she would come home each day and we would play school.  She would teach me everything she learned that day. My first grade teacher was loving and kind. My fourth grade teacher told me that I could do and be anything I wanted to. In fifth and sixth grade I learned to love music even more than I already did. My seventh and eighth grade teacher grounded me in English. I obviously loved school and as far as I could tell had every reason to.

 You cannot imagine, or you might, how very sad it made me when I learned that the inner-city school near my church had an average grade point of a D and failed the universal evaluation. To reach that average a lot of those students had to be failing and few excelling. School and the opportunities it brought were some of the greatest sources of hope for me and most of my fellow students. It should be that for children today, but in too many cases, it is not. 

My church and the United Methodist church down the street surround this inner-city school with all kinds of support.  The United Methodist offer an after school music program and tutoring. Each Friday during the school year, we stuff the food back packs that are sent home with children identified as not having adequate food at home for the weekend, provide one-on-one tutoring at the school, keep them in school supplies, and purchase school uniforms on a referral basis. We are researching other ways that we can help.

 A quality education system is a necessary component of any government that claims to be of the people, by the people, and for the people.  While we need to do everything we can as congregations to support our schools, we probably more importantly need to work to assure that our government at all levels is doing its part also. If a school has an average grade point of a D, is it the students that are failing or is it the school? And if it is the school, are they receiving the funding and resources needed to assure that every student that crosses their entrance is thriving?

 Prayer: Rabboni, Teacher, thank you for training us in the way you would have us go and now show us how we can bring hope to the children of our state through their schools. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.

Hope

First Week of Advent
Thursday December 5, 2013

 Read: Psalms 72:1-7

 Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son.
 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
 May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy,
   and crush the oppressor.—Psalm 72:1-4  

Over my career in public welfare, one phrase was particularly galling to me: the deserving poor. I do understand what people are trying to describe with this term. The deserving poor are “good” people; probably poor but work or are “genuinely” disabled and unable to work; are pleasant and polite to be around; dress appropriately for their economic status; and do not make waves. No one deserves to be poor. The truth is that all people are stamped with the image of God at creation. Some have a harder time realizing that than others.  We who realize it sometimes have a hard time living out the reality of what being made in the image of God really means. 

I worked as a waitress in high school and college. Wait staff are often paid below the minimum wage since they get tips to offset the difference. While I was working to help pay my way through college, some of my co-workers were the sole support of their family. For them, a bad day of tips most likely meant little food for dinner.  

Our call as God’s people regarding assuring that the poor have adequate income and resources is threaded throughout the Bible. In the book of Ruth, Boaz orders his servants to leave grain in the field for the poor to harvest in accordance with the law (Leviticus 23.22). The prophets were particularly outspoken about the treatment of the poor as was Jesus. 

Anyone who works deserves to make a living wage, enough income to provide the basic necessities of life. Please note, I did not say the minimum wage as it is well below the cost of living. Our culture defines the worth, thus the salary of a job, but not necessarily by the merits or importance of the job.  If the merits of the job were considered, pre-school teachers would not be making minimum wage. The cleaning staff would not be some of the lowest paid at hospitals. Culture will most likely always define the worth of jobs. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he said that the poor will always be with us.  It does not mean that our culture cannot set the baseline as a living wage.  

Prayer: Help us each reflect your love in all our dealings with the poor in spirit and in truth. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.

Hope

First Week of Advent
Wednesday December 4, 2013

 Read Psalm 124

 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—let Israel now say—
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
then over us would have gone the raging waters.—Psalm 124:1-5

 A group of Burmese Christians worships at my church on Sunday afternoons. I do not know their background, how they came to be living in Oklahoma City, or why they had to leave their homeland. I do know that their nation, now called Myanmar, has been embroiled in civil war among warring groups for years.  Human rights violations have been a grave concern for some time. In 2011, the first elected government was instituted and there is hope that stability with human rights will become the standard for this ancient land. 

A few weeks ago the Burmese invited our congregation to join theirs for lunch. What a wonderful experience. Besides having excellent food, there was much joy. Some of the Burmese spoke limited English and I know of no one in our group that spoke Burmese, but we did communicate.  The young mother who sat next to me told me she had lived here about two years. We talked about her two precious little girls, one nearly three who must have arrived in this country with her parents and one six months old who was born in the United States. They live just down the street from the church. 

Several weeks ago I arrived at the church for a book club meeting. Spilling out of the sanctuary, enthusiastic singing of this congregation welcomed me.  I stopped and listened for a moment recognizing the very familiar tune of a popular chorus being sung in Burmese. In my head I joined with them repeating the words in English.  These were not strangers anymore. These are neighbors. 

We are called to welcome the stranger and to treat them as we would want to be treated in a foreign land. When strangers live among us they become our neighbors and we are called to love them as we love ourselves. Someone instilled the Burmese Christians with the hope of Jesus. They now have inspired my congregation with that same hope as they spread their good will. 

Prayer: God of the nations, make us whole, make us one. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.

Hope

First Week of Advent
Tuesday December 3, 2013

 Read: Hebrews 11:32-40

 But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.—Hebrews 11:32-34

The author of the book of Hebrews gives us an insight on the early Christians. Many were imprisoned for their faith.  Apparently, they took their experience to heart and gained compassion for their fellow prisoners. 

Russ was 17 when his father suddenly, unexpectedly died. He was a good looking affable teen who really loved cars and was a budding mechanic. He also had a hot temper at times. Russ was 18 when he was convicted for his first DUI.  Twenty when he got his third which at that time in Oklahoma resulted in a mandatory prison sentence. One wonders if he had gotten some treatment for alcohol abuse the first or second time, whether there would have been a third conviction. He, however, was one of the lucky Oklahoma State Prison inmates.  I guess you could say he won the lottery. Drug and alcohol treatment in the Oklahoma State Prison system is rationed.  There is not enough to go around so they select participants through a drawing. Russ was picked soon after he arrived. From all reports it made a difference. I did not know him then. I met him after he was married, had a couple of kids, and was working as a mechanic. 

Russ, like his father, died too soon. He was diagnosed with end stage terminal cancer and lived only a short time after the diagnosis. His last wish was that his whole family, including the teenagers in it, learned about the love of God and the difference it could make in a person’s life. He was living proof of that. 

We still have a lot to learn from our ancestors in the faith. Their first person experience with prisoners gave them compassion and they gave those prisoners hope. As a state with more prisoners than most states, we who call ourselves Christians have a vast array of prisoners who need our love and the gift of our hope. That includes such things as helping to sculpt a criminal justice system that is restorative rather than punitive to reaching out to the individuals sitting behind the bars showing them that God loves them. 

Prayer: Holy One, open our eyes that we might see ways that we can be conduits of your love to those in prison or released from prison with no hope and no future except perhaps returning to criminal behavior. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.

Hope

First Week of Advent
Monday December 2, 2013

Read: Genesis 8:1-19

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided… The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.—Genesis 8:1, 5

Natural disasters, if nothing else, clarify what is important and what is not. Tornado victims who have lost most possessions, including their home and vehicles, usually say, “We may have lost everything else, but we still have each other that is what is important.”  This was true of all but the families of 24 people who were killed when one of the most devastating tornados in historical records swept through Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013. The destruction was unbelievable. Several meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements to calculate the energy released during the storm’s life span of almost an hour. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb with more experts at the high end. (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57585569/power-of-okla-tornado-surpassed-hiroshima-bomb/)

The loss of only 24 people was actually a miracle, if a miracle is divine intervention that causes extraordinary results that is what happened on May 20 in Moore. The city had been struck by a large tornado on May 3, 1999.  The citizens and local government learned from that experience. They heeded the warnings of the “storm” prophets.  When homes and new schools were rebuilt storm shelters were installed. First responders were trained. The children who were killed at school on May 20, 2013 were in one of the older elementary schools that had not yet been upgraded.

We do need to do everything we possibly can to protect the lives of our citizens and that includes reducing our carbon foot print that may be contributing to the severity and growing numbers of really bad storms.  It does not matter whether too much carbon on the earth is the result of human activity. Recycling and conserving energy are both prudent actions to take for health and economic reason. If a by-product of that is less carbon and if less carbon results in fewer strong storms, we who live on God’s green earth will benefit.

Noah took hope when he saw the top of the mountain. His ordeal was about over. We, too, can take hope as we look up and see the many ways we can make a difference on the earth today. We are called to be stewards of God’s creation. Let it be so.

Prayer: Creator God continue to create in us the will and the way to be your good stewards of the earth. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.

HOPE

First Week of Advent 2013
Sunday December 1, 2013

 Read: Isaiah 2:1-5 

In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains,…‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
                                                                                                                                              —Isaiah 2:2-3 

• The 2012 poverty rate in Oklahoma was 16.3% compared to the nation as a whole at 14.3% (US Census Bureau). It is estimated that 1 out of 4 children living in Oklahoma have insufficient food.
•  Oklahoma housed 648 inmates serving sentences per 100,000 residents in 2012, up from 632 in 2011. There were 127 female prisoners in 2012 for every 100,000 female residents, the highest incarceration rate for females in the country. (www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/states-prison-rates_n_3667046.html)
•  In 2010, there were 1 million unauthorized immigrants under age 18 in the U.S.  (http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/01/29/a-nation-of-immigrants/) Many young adults who were brought as infants by their parents to the USA without the proper documents have never known any other way of life but as residents of this country. Yet they face uncertain futures without legal permission to be here.
• 99.3% of the 392 students at the elementary school located a few blocks from my church qualify for free or reduced lunches. Their average grade point for 2012 was 1.32, a D. Its score on the controversial A-F Report Card was and F in 2013. http://afreportcards.ok.gov/
• Average sea temperatures are rising at a rate of 0.13°F per decade from 1901 through 2012 (www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/) resulting in rising sea levels and stronger storms. The May 20, 2013 Moore, Oklahoma tornado had a path length of approximately 14 miles and was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes. The preliminary maximum path width is 1.1 miles. (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=events-20130520)

 Advent is a time of waiting for the coming of a promised Savior. It can be scary in such a time as this. We do not know what is out there beyond our vision, beyond our reach. The problems that surround us are real and complex. Will the Savior really come?

The Psalmist calls us to lift our eyes to the mountains, to expand our line of vision, and to try to see s bit as God sees.  There lies hope. After all God breathed the breath of life into each of us. God heard the cries of his people in Egypt and led them out of bondage. God also sent prophets to alert us and teachers to instruct us but we paid them little heed. Are we ready to pay attention now?

Receive the gift of hope this Advent. The Savior is coming, has come, and will come again. Listen, see, hear, feel, and taste that God is indeed good and brings you the gift of hope this Advent.

Prayer:  Lift our eyes to the hills so we might experience hope through a glimpse of your vision, O God.  Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.

The Impact Team of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches has developed for your use a series of Advent devotions starting December 1, 2013 that can be read at https://deborahsdescendants.com/. Based on traditional Advent scriptures and themes these devotions are targeted at delving deeper into the importance of doing justice in our daily journey of faith.  Highlighted are the five areas in which the Impact Team builds its work toward justice. They are Criminal Justice & Corrections, Environment, Immigration, Education, and Poverty.  For further information about the work of the Impact Team and to see the theological statements that are the basis of its work go to http://okchurches.org/  click on programs and then select  Impact on the Conference’s website.  Also look under programs at the Social Justice Ministry Network, if you would like to become more aware  or involved  with justice ministries in Oklahoma.

The devotions will appear at this place on the date they are to be read.  They will then be moved to the archive list above, if you wish to see a previous one.