Advent Devotional Nov 27
Week One:
Creating Shalom Means Bringing Hope
Sunday, November 27, 2022
“The Hope of Advent” – Read Ezekiel 47:1-12
Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. (v. 12, NIV)
On this Advent journey, we start by considering hope. “Hope” is a small word, yet it is a term that is powerfully significant. Hope makes a profound difference in life. Hope is viewed as a powerful feeling, even an attitude, that enables us to face any life circumstance and excel despite challenges. Hope has to do with “desire accompanied by anticipation or expectation.” Life and hope, then, may be a pair of twins. One poet wrote with profundity, “hope springs eternal in the human breast.”
There is a well-known hymn of the Church that became a favorite in my seminary days in Atlanta. It ends with, On Christ the solid rock I stand, / all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand. No one could have believed that in just nearly three years since the beginning of the coronavirus, the so-called solid grounds of societal and denominational unity, financial certainty, emotional security, and biological longevity would experience such massive shifts. We have been shaken. The reverberations of our complicated circumstances will linger in our hearts for a very long time.
Not unlike us, perhaps the disappointed Israelites thought that they would never behold shalom again. Charting the waters of deportation, dehumanization, and captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel concludes his missive with the hopeful image of water flowing dramatically east from the threshold of the temple, all the way to the Dead Sea, miraculously giving it life. Despite how chaotic and unpredictable the world was, God offers a better picture. Ezekiel’s message declares the future God imagines for us, a future of hope and restoration.
This Advent, we expect the birth of the Christ child. At the same time, we live with the faith that Christ Jesus has already come. His presence among us makes the lasting difference. Even in disappointment, hope springs eternal in the human breast.
Lord, let there be hope on earth and let it begin with me. / Let there be hope on earth, true hope that was meant to be. / With You as our Father, family all are we. / Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony. / …Let me take this moment and live each moment in hope eternally! Let there be hope on earth, dear Lord, and let it begin with me. Amen.
(Adapted from “Let There Be Peace on Earth” © 1955, Jan-Lee Music)
Rev. Dr. Victor McCullough, Heartland District Superintendent
The Oklahoma Conference of the UMC
“The Hope of Advent” – Read Ezekiel 47:1-12
Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. (v. 12, NIV)
On this Advent journey, we start by considering hope. “Hope” is a small word, yet it is a term that is powerfully significant. Hope makes a profound difference in life. Hope is viewed as a powerful feeling, even an attitude, that enables us to face any life circumstance and excel despite challenges. Hope has to do with “desire accompanied by anticipation or expectation.” Life and hope, then, may be a pair of twins. One poet wrote with profundity, “hope springs eternal in the human breast.”
There is a well-known hymn of the Church that became a favorite in my seminary days in Atlanta. It ends with, On Christ the solid rock I stand, / all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand. No one could have believed that in just nearly three years since the beginning of the coronavirus, the so-called solid grounds of societal and denominational unity, financial certainty, emotional security, and biological longevity would experience such massive shifts. We have been shaken. The reverberations of our complicated circumstances will linger in our hearts for a very long time.
Not unlike us, perhaps the disappointed Israelites thought that they would never behold shalom again. Charting the waters of deportation, dehumanization, and captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel concludes his missive with the hopeful image of water flowing dramatically east from the threshold of the temple, all the way to the Dead Sea, miraculously giving it life. Despite how chaotic and unpredictable the world was, God offers a better picture. Ezekiel’s message declares the future God imagines for us, a future of hope and restoration.
This Advent, we expect the birth of the Christ child. At the same time, we live with the faith that Christ Jesus has already come. His presence among us makes the lasting difference. Even in disappointment, hope springs eternal in the human breast.
Lord, let there be hope on earth and let it begin with me. / Let there be hope on earth, true hope that was meant to be. / With You as our Father, family all are we. / Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony. / …Let me take this moment and live each moment in hope eternally! Let there be hope on earth, dear Lord, and let it begin with me. Amen.
(Adapted from “Let There Be Peace on Earth” © 1955, Jan-Lee Music)
Rev. Dr. Victor McCullough, Heartland District Superintendent
The Oklahoma Conference of the UMC
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