"A gift from our community of faith to you. Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is devoted to preparing outstanding leaders for Christ’s church. One of the ways 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 December 19
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
The church to whom this letter was written believed that Christ was soon to return, much as we do today. We are called to live in full expectancy of Christ’s return. This expectation is what keeps the church busy and ready. When the church prepares for the Advent season, there is excitement in the air as we await God’s gift to the world. Or is there? Are we truly expecting the coming of Jesus or has it become just another activity to get through? If it has become a mere ritual for us, we are quenching the Spirit and are not bringing any vitality to the season.
Paul is giving us instructions to keep us from quenching the Spirit. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances … do not quench the Spirit … hold on to what is good.” We are to rejoice and give thanks even when we do not feel that we can. We are to pray without ceasing, because a life of seeking to please and honor God and doing God’s will means constantly giving thanks, regardless of our situation. We are not to quench the Spirit, but we must be able to recognize the signs of the Spirit in all matters, not just in the four walls that we call “church.”
What difference does the kind (traditional or contemporary) of worship we have make when there are people in our communities living in poverty or in fear of being deported to their home countries; when treatments for illness are so costly that some do not get treatment; when the homeless are increasing in numbers and more of them are families with children? How do our preparations for Advent include them? When we quench the Spirit, we stop sharing the Good News of Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, and return. We become mute, like Zecharias when he didn’t believe that Elizabeth would bear a son. When John was born, Zecharias’s tongue was loosed and he blessed the Lord God of Israel. We, the church, face a world that so desperately needs to hear of the mercies of God proclaimed during Advent, and always we need to loosen our tongues so God can use them.
Of course, by the time you read these words, we will all know better, even if in the moment we weren’t so sure. It’s just an eclipse, and on 22 August the sun rose just fine. They’re just meteorites, overgrown bits of space dust that had the misfortune to burn up in our atmosphere for our midnight entertainment. It’s not the powers of heaven, just a bunch of racist neo-Nazis. It’s not the Kingdom. It’s not the end.
Or is it? Advent reminds us that, though the sun rises and the world turns and the stars whirl about on their celestial axis, things are not always what they seem. One day, Jesus says, the sun will be darkened and the stars will fall and powers from the roof of heaven to the sub-basement of earth will be rocked to their foundations. One day the Son of Man will come and the Kingdom will arrive.
Who’s to say that day is not today? For after Advent comes Christmas when the stars sing their glorias, and then Good Friday when heaven and earth shake, and finally Easter after which nothing is the same. Christ has come. The Kingdom has begun. The powers of evil, hate, racism, and death—however potent they seem—cannot slow its progress. Perhaps the real lesson of this eclipse is not astronomical but theological. Like the path of totality, God’s reign travels inexorably through the world. There is good news in that. And just in time.
Merciful God, keep us from quenching the Spirit and use us to share the news of the coming of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Estela Sifuentes
Student from San Antonio, 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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