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Advent Devotional for Sunday, December 12
In the wake of his questioning by John the Baptist’s disciples, Jesus asked the crowd three times what they had gone to see when they sought John in the wilderness. A prophet? Yes, that was it! However, they saw much more, because John prepared them to meet the Messiah.
As we whiz through Advent, what do we come to see? Do we come to this season to see far-flung loved ones we see only once a year? Do we come to be enchanted by soft candlelight, twinkling starlight, and a zillion blinking electric lights? Perhaps we come hoping to see profits that will carry us through the rest of the year. No doubt the very young come to see under a Christmas tree brightly wrapped presents that make waiting so hard. Maybe we come longing to see in our mind’s eye the memories of happy Christmases past.
Some come with dread. For those who have lost a loved one at Christmastime; those without money to provide any sense of the holiday for their children; the chronically depressed; the homeless and hungry; those who are alone without family or friends, Christmas can be the cruelest time of the year. But God can and does relieve their suffering through us, Christ’s disciples, God’s instruments of comfort not only now but year-round.
Regardless of what we come to see in this season, what we come to see has some bearing on what we will see. If we come to see only the business end of it, that may well be all we will see. If we come only to revel in the commercial glitz, we may be blinded to the other signs of this season, signs in the biblical sense: little miracles that happen all around us.
Compassionate God, during this time of holy preparation filter our vision with faith, that we might see not only the wonder and beauty, but the needs that surround us. Open our hearts and minds to engage the suffering, strength and grace to touch the despair; all this in the name of your son. Amen.
Belinda C. Windham (MDiv’91)
President, Austin Seminary Association
Pastor, New Hope Presbyterian Church, Katy, Texas
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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