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Advent devotions 2008

DEC. 9 - HOW WILL WE TESTIFY TO THE LIGHT?
By Bill Born, vice president for student life

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

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DEVOTIONAL:
"I don’t think I can celebrate Advent if this is God's idea of being loving and just." These were the words of my brother just five days ago as he looked ahead to the Advent season in the midst of personal pain. His spouse, his best friend and our mother are all experiencing extreme physical and cognitive failure due to disease, stroke and dementia. He's carrying some heavy burdens. I listened with little to say in response.

As I shared this conversation with another peer he noted that sometimes all we can say is, "Then let me celebrate for you."

Both conversations have been with me each day since.

Isaiah 61:1-4 notes a personal call to action following the long-awaited anticipation of restoration and peace. In response to the Lord’s personal anointing, our purpose is defined as servants to those who are poor, oppressed, brokenhearted and to those who are captives, and are mourning and in despair.

During this Advent season, is there someone for whom you can personally say, "Let me celebrate Advent for you?" Is there someone you can reach out to who is poor, oppressed, brokenhearted, who is captive or in mourning and despair. Is there someone you can speak with and say, "I can’t fully understand, but I am present."

In any given "here and now," Isaiah 61:8 promises the Lord's justice and his faithfulness to restore. His covenant is everlasting and in time, we will experience salvation and peace.

During this Advent season, in this imperfect world, we are called to be God’s means of hope for those who are suffering most and in this way we "testify to the light."

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SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 (NRSV)
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion -- to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Posted at 22:51 #