Special 2020 Advent devotions prequel
This has been a crazy year of quarantine, shelter-in-place, distancing and masks. I’ve preached to an empty sanctuary. You’ve worshiped online. I’ve taught and led meetings via Zoom.
But it’s just not the same, is it?
From the very beginning, God said it wasn’t good for his created people to be alone. That’s why he created the woman. In those Edenic days, God would walk through the garden he had created, personally interacting with the man and the woman. Until that one day, Adam and Eve attempted to “quarantine” themselves with some leaves in the bushes because they had disobeyed the prime directive to not eat from that tree.
That changed everything. But God knew that was not the way it was supposed to be. In that moment, he initiated a plan to restore the relationship between Him and His creation. He promised to be a part of their lives.
Advent is a powerful time in the church year to remember God’s journey into this world as flesh and blood, as a person, as a baby. Scripture is filled with images and foreshadowing of the incarnation when the Word would indeed become flesh. This year my Advent devotions are intended to help you reflect upon the power, comfort and assurance that God has not abandoned you, but has come to be with you. It’s not just on paper. it’s not just a story. It is God in the flesh, live and in person!
In the past few months, some of your doctor visits have been through windows or via Skype. You have virtually celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and graduations via Zoom. Perhaps you have appeared before a judge online. Yes, we can get it done that way. But it’s just not the same, is it? It’s frustrating, isolating, quiet, confining, claustrophobic and lonely.
God’s word says we are much stronger when we are together than when we are apart. Two or three together cannot be easily broken!
Isolation threatens our faith. It weakens us. It undermines our faith, friendships and perceptions.
Job knew that not even death could take away his personal connection with God. He knew he would see his Redeemer in the flesh one day. We too look forward to that day!
I pray that this year’s devotions will bless you. I hope they will help you grasp the amazing grace of God that refuses to let us live apart form His love!
Waite for it... 