Advent Devotional for November 30

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Advent Devotional for Wedbesday, November 30

Luke 21: 34–38

Anticipation. Yearning. Anxiety. Hoping. Waiting. Isn’t that what this Advent journey is all about, waiting on the world to change? Jesus’ parable in Luke 21 is telling disciples - both then and now - that the celebrations and disappointments of this world should not be the primary focus of humankind. For a worrier like myself, those are harsh words to digest. They become exponentially more difficult to enact when confronted with the brokenness of creation that manifests itself in disease, oppression, consumerism, poverty, and war. As John Mayer suggests, who could possibly rise above and beat these things? And by which means?

How easy it is to feel hopeless in the face of such great needs. How quickly we allow the matters of this world to distract us from divine blessing. So we wait. Simultaneously balancing the joy found in God’s eternal assurance with our compassionate action to aid a hurting world, we wait in hopeful tension for the Child of Promise. We wait because we know that through the Jesus of Crib and Cross the world will change as God comes to be with us and for us in this world. We wait for that signal of Creation’s nearing redemption. Alert and steadfast, we wait for the world to change.

God of Promise, we yearn for the light of your coming. Focus our hearts on that which is truly important. Renew us by your love that we may face both present and future with hope and joy. In the name of the One who is to come, Amen.

Cam Burton
MDiv Student
Pastor, Decker United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas

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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.