Advent Devotional Dec 17
Week Three:
Creating Shalom means Sounding Joy
Saturday, December 17, 2022
“A Father’s Joy” – Read Luke 15:11-32
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (vv. 31-32, NIV)
When I served as a missionary pastor in Russia in the 1990s, my 16-year-old daughter Joy and I once took a weekend trip to Moscow. We were heading to our hotel room by bus. We mistakenly thought we had arrived at our stop, and Joy exited first. But before I could step off, the driver closed the doors and took off down the road, leaving Joy stranded! He seemed deaf to my pleadings to stop.
I took stock: I was still holding Joy’s passport and cash for safety. It was midnight in Moscow, Russia. My daughter was in an unknown part of town. She didn’t speak the language, she had no ID, and she had no way to reach out to anyone for help.
I thought, OK, as soon as we stop again, I can follow the same bus route in the opposite direction, which will take me right back to her. However, THAT bus took off in an entirely new direction, and after several turns and twists, I, too, was lost.
I had to do something! I exited and started running down random Moscow streets in what I hoped was the right compass direction. I was in full panic mode: what were the odds of finding a single person lost in a city of 12 million people?
As I ran, I shouted her name, “Joy! Joy!” at the top of my lungs. Passers-by looked at me as if I were a madman. But after a while, I saw, down a long stretch of road, someone sitting at a bus stop. It was my daughter! Somehow, I had found my way to her. I ran to her as fast as I could, grabbed her in my arms, and through my tears, told her over and over how sorry I was that I had lost her.
To this day, I do not think my daughter can comprehend the extent of the fear or the joy I experienced on that day. And until that day, I had never really understood Advent: you and I often feel so lost. As we wait for the coming of One who loves us more than we can comprehend, that same One is already running toward us, shouting like a madman, “Joy! Joy!” in anticipation of the dizzying celebration ahead.
Heart of Love, open us to the startling, upside-down ways in which you work. Fill us with Easter's laughter. Unwrap your Christmas peace. Shout out our Advent names. And then dance us home, into the fulness of your joy. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann, Retired Elder
Connections Coordinator of the Heartland District
“A Father’s Joy” – Read Luke 15:11-32
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (vv. 31-32, NIV)
When I served as a missionary pastor in Russia in the 1990s, my 16-year-old daughter Joy and I once took a weekend trip to Moscow. We were heading to our hotel room by bus. We mistakenly thought we had arrived at our stop, and Joy exited first. But before I could step off, the driver closed the doors and took off down the road, leaving Joy stranded! He seemed deaf to my pleadings to stop.
I took stock: I was still holding Joy’s passport and cash for safety. It was midnight in Moscow, Russia. My daughter was in an unknown part of town. She didn’t speak the language, she had no ID, and she had no way to reach out to anyone for help.
I thought, OK, as soon as we stop again, I can follow the same bus route in the opposite direction, which will take me right back to her. However, THAT bus took off in an entirely new direction, and after several turns and twists, I, too, was lost.
I had to do something! I exited and started running down random Moscow streets in what I hoped was the right compass direction. I was in full panic mode: what were the odds of finding a single person lost in a city of 12 million people?
As I ran, I shouted her name, “Joy! Joy!” at the top of my lungs. Passers-by looked at me as if I were a madman. But after a while, I saw, down a long stretch of road, someone sitting at a bus stop. It was my daughter! Somehow, I had found my way to her. I ran to her as fast as I could, grabbed her in my arms, and through my tears, told her over and over how sorry I was that I had lost her.
To this day, I do not think my daughter can comprehend the extent of the fear or the joy I experienced on that day. And until that day, I had never really understood Advent: you and I often feel so lost. As we wait for the coming of One who loves us more than we can comprehend, that same One is already running toward us, shouting like a madman, “Joy! Joy!” in anticipation of the dizzying celebration ahead.
Heart of Love, open us to the startling, upside-down ways in which you work. Fill us with Easter's laughter. Unwrap your Christmas peace. Shout out our Advent names. And then dance us home, into the fulness of your joy. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann, Retired Elder
Connections Coordinator of the Heartland District
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