From Austin Seminary: "Advent Devotional" for December 22

"A gift from our community of faith to you. We at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary are devoted to preparing outstanding leaders for Christ’s church. One of the ways that we nurture leaders is by building a loving community of faith and extending God’s grace to others. In this season of anticipation, we extend God’s grace to you and invite you to explore this book of Advent devotions. Through this collection, please join us as we prepare to receive God’s greatest gift—the birth of Jesus Christ."

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Advent Devotional for Tuesday, December 22

• Hebrews 10:5-10

We’ve made it to this year’s winter solstice. It is the longest night of the year in the western hemisphere. For Christians living in this part of the globe, any seasonal merrymaking tonight takes place at midwinter. In fact all the things we do this season that are associated with bright lights (shopping) or even candlelight and softer lights (parties, tree lighting) are set against the backdrop of longer nights. For us in this hemisphere the old Roman midwinter festival’s name, the Unconquerable Sun, Sol Invictus, has a resonance. Because, even though now the earth is in hibernation, we know what is coming: this planet will turn to face the Sol, the largest star in our solar system, in due time and our ground will produce crops because we will tilt towards the sun once again.

Advent is our Christian tilting. It is our turning again to the promises of the One Who is Coming. Some church traditions have special music set aside for this last week of Advent. Some of us have been marking off the scriptural names that came to be associated with these last days before the Nativity – finding in Old Testament titles words that hold meaning for the promise and nature of our Lord Jesus the Christ: O Wisdom!; O Lord!; O Root of Jesse!; O Key of David!; O Dayspring!; O King of the nations!; O God who is with us! (The hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is a sung setting for these names for God). And today we hear the words from the letter to the Hebrews: “(And) it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” What do we tilt towards? Not just longer days or the sun’s heat or the fertility of the earth. We tilt, we lean toward the One who was in the beginning and who will come again and who, by his sanctifying death, perfects us.

O King of the nations! Your rule is justice and righteousness. By your good will bring peace to the nations. And make us sure of your presence that we may be provoked to love and good deeds even as we wait for the fullness of your reign. Amen.

Jennifer L. Lord
Julia B. Vickery Professor of Homilitics and Liturgical Studies

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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.

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