The Advent/Christmas season is all about relationships: the relationship that God seeks to establish with us through Christ and also the relationships that we affirm when family, friends, and fellow worshipers gather during the holidays.

As we anticipate celebrating the birth of our Savior, it would be helpful to consider the relationships that some people in both Old Testament and New Testament times had with God and with one another. Their stories are the foundation upon which Jesus established his identity. They also provide a context for understanding Christ's birth.

The Old Testament personalities enable us to share some of the same stories that Jesus heard and read as he grew to adulthood and prepared for his public ministry. They tell us about the ways in which God has revealed himself to and through different people in order to fulfill God's purposes. The New Testament personalities help us appreciate the events more directly associated with Jesus' birth.

As you read the devotional articles and Scripture readings for each day, Advent and Christmas will give you an opportunity to establish or renew the relationship you have with God as well as your relationships with other people.

The only thing that we take out of this world with us is our relationship with God and our relationships with one another. Everything else we leave behind: our wealth, our possessions, our homes, our cars, even the clothes on our backs. Our relationships are responsible for making us the persons that we are. We are part of everyone we meet and even of the people we have not met whose stories are familiar to us. This means that we should give a top priority to our relationships.

This season of the year also provides us with an opportunity to establish new relationships. There are people who feel lonely and isolated during the holidays. We can reach out to them and invite them to our celebrations of the Savior's birth and also include them in our gatherings of family and friends. Welcoming the strangers in our midst is a vital part of welcoming Christ into our lives afresh.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2010

On this first Sunday of Advent, light the first purple or blue candle as a symbol of Christ, our hope.

Read Genesis 12:1-9

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you ... so that you will be a blessing. —Genesis 12:2

Abraham (whom God renamed from Abram) is revered as a patriarch in three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham is honored because of his faith in God and his willingness to respond to God's call to leave the country of Haran, where he had been successful and prosperous, and to relocate in the land of Canaan, where God led him. He was already seventy-five years of age when God called him to move to a strange land. His essential character was that he believed and trusted God.

It is always a temptation to remain content with the prosperity and success that we have already attained and to dwell securely amid familiar people and surroundings. But there are times when God calls us to accept new challenges.

Some people are more resistant to change than others. I like things the way they are. I don't even like it when my wife rearranges the furniture. Since I have served as an itinerant pastor for more than thirty years, my family and I have undertaken a number of moves due to changes in pastoral appointments. Those changes can be exciting at first when you are young and fresh out of seminary. They usually indicate opportunities to serve in greater fields of ministry. But if you are having a successful ministry where you are presently located, then receiving a new appointment seems to be more of an interruption than an opportunity. And yet, just as a mother bird stirs up her nest in order to encourage her fledglings to learn to fly, God often stirs us from our sense of contentment so that we can explore new vistas. There are new opportunities to serve the Lord in whatever situation we may find ourselves.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, keep me open to new opportunities to serve you and to tell others about you. Amen.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Read Genesis 22:1-8

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. —Genesis 21:5

God promised Abraham that he would give him more descendants than he would be able to count. Abraham's name means "father of a multitude." God had to repeatedly reassure Abraham that he and Sarah would be the parents of a son whose descendants would fulfill God's promise. Isaac was the child whom God promised.

On one occasion God told Abraham to take his son Isaac up the mountain and sacrifice him to the Lord. This meant that Abraham must be willing to trust God in spite of harsh demands. The story is more than that of a potential child sacrifice. When Isaac asked his father where they would get the sacrifice for the offering, Abraham told him the Lord would provide the sacrifice (see Genesis 22:8). Abraham trusted God to fulfill God's promise through his son, Isaac. And on the mountain, just as Abraham was about to kill his own son, God provided an alternative sacrifice in the form of a ram that had been tangled in some bushes.

God already knew the quality of Abraham's faith. This test was intended to prove to Abraham the nature of his own faith. Abraham was put in a position where he had to trust God to fulfill God's promises. Abraham is remembered for his trust. Isaac is remembered as being the child through whom God fulfilled his promise to the Jews.

Today if we made plans to sacrifice our children and told anyone that God wanted us to do it, we would probably be put in a mental hospital. We know that devoted parents will sacrifice anything to ensure the health and welfare of their children.

When the early Christians read this story about Abraham and Isaac, they saw Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice that God used to enable us to escape death as the result of our sins. The One who was without sin gave his life so that those who were bound by sin could experience forgiveness and have eternal life.

Prayer: Lord, inspire in me unwavering faith in you and the grace to serve you. Amen.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Read Genesis 28:10-19

Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!" —Genesis 28:16

Jacob had a dream about a ladder or a stairway that went to heaven. There were angels ascending and descending this ladder. When he awoke from his dream, Jacob realized that the Lord had been there in the place where he slept even though he had not been aware of it. His awareness of the Lord's presence had been intensified by his dream.

Jesus identified himself with the ladder or stairway to heaven that was the subject of Jacob's dream. He said to Nathaniel, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (John 1:51).

Dreams played an important role in communicating God's message amid the events surrounding Christ's birth. How has God communicated with you through your dreams?

Prayer: O God, help me be more aware of your presence day by day and experience you in unexpected situations. Amen.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2010

Read Genesis 37:17-28; 45:4-5

"And now do not be distressed ... because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life." —Genesis 45:5

Joseph was a dreamer and a gifted dream interpreter. He was also the youngest of his brothers and his father Jacob's favorite son. But Joseph used his favored position and his talents to brag on himself and tease his brothers.

He had dreamed of someday ruling over them, so they resolved to get rid of the dreamer and his dreams. As a result, Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, and he ended up in Egypt in a position of great power. Years later due to a famine, Joseph's family came to Egypt looking for food and supplies. They knew that they were approaching Pharaoh's second in command, but they did not realize that it was Joseph whom they approached for help. Joseph and his family were thus reunited, and Joseph's family was allowed to settle in Egypt.

What had appeared to be misfortune in Joseph's life ended up being a blessing not only for Joseph but for countless others. Joseph refused to become bitter, to turn against God or betray his ethical values and standards.

When I had to give up my parish ministry due to multiple health issues, I was tempted to believe that my life of service to God was over. But I have learned that even on disability I am able to continue in ministry, not as a pastor but as an intercessor and an encourager. I have also had opportunities to witness for Christ that I would not have had otherwise.

When God places a dream in your heart, God has the power to fulfill it. Do not become discouraged if it looks like your dream will not come true. Remember, it's not your dream but God's dream that matters most. What God has inspired in you, God will bring to completion. What God did for Joseph, God can do for you.

Prayer: Lord, give me the faith to believe that the dream you have inspired in my life will be fulfilled. Amen.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2010

Read Exodus 3:1-8; 10-12

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" [God] said, "I will be with you." —Exodus 3:11-12

Moses was a Hebrew who had been adopted as an infant by Pharaoh's daughter and brought up in Pharaoh's court. He enjoyed the education and other benefits of his unique position among the Egyptians. But when he sought to come to the aid of one of his own people who was being abused by an Egyptian, Moses ended up being a fugitive from justice. He had tried to help his people in his own way and had failed miserably. Now, at eighty years of age, Moses was going to learn how to do things God's way.

Because he had failed in his own strength, Moses questioned his ability to fulfill God's demands. But this time God would help Moses be the leader that God wanted him to be.

A famous icon portrays Jesus as the lawgiver. While the Lord used Moses to give his people the Ten Commandments, Jesus gave us the law of God's love and forgiveness.

Prayer: Lord God, help me serve you in your strength instead of my own. Amen.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Advent A Calendar of Devotions 2010 Large Typeby Robert V Dodd Copyright © 2010 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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