Advent and Lenten Devotions by Goshen
College students, faculty, and staff - Welcome to Goshen College Advent
Devotions 2013: Tuesday, 3 December 2013 “The Paradoxical Kingdom of God” by
Quinn Brenneke, a public relations major from Fort Wayne, Indiana
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 11: The Peaceful Kingdom
1 A shoot shall come out from the stump
of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on
him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the
Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge
the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of
his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around
his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling
together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the
hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall
stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his
dwelling shall be glorious.(NRSV)
DEVOTIONAL:
When I was younger, Christmas time was my
favorite part of the year. As soon as the tree went up at my grandmother’s, I
knew that more of my favorite traditions were to come: Aunt Geraldine’s sugar
cookies; hide-and-seek in the crevices of my grandparents’ old, creaky home in
Richmond, Ind.; living room floors covered in colorful, wadded-up wrapping
paper. It all made sense to me; those little pieces of Christmas all fit
together so nicely.
The prophet Isaiah told stories of a
future when things will fit together nicely that don’t go together now. He said
“the wolf shall live with the lamb” and “the calf and the lion together” and
all these would be lead by “a little child.” The world will be pleasantly full
of paradoxes. What a mystery of a place to live!
Eventually, Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s
paradoxical prophecy, arriving as fully human and fully God. He was perfect,
but bent down to a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) and washed the feet
of his followers (John 13:1-20). “The kingdom of God is at hand,” he said
(Matt. 10:7), yet it is still coming (Luke 17:20-37). The things that don’t
seem to fit were those that Jesus put together.
My favorite Christmas tradition happens
at midnight every Christmas Eve. To the sound of church bells, my family
gathers with my grandparents’ congregation in an old, historic Lutheran
cathedral. The lights go off, and the tall room is illuminated by candles as we
sing “Silent Night” a cappella in German and English. Stille Nacht, heilige
Nacht! Alles schläft, einsam wacht. The tune moves through the pews and the
flames dance at the sound. Light meets darkness, and all is calm.
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 11:A shoot shall come
out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of
the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the
Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the
poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of
the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of
his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall
kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around
his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his
loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling
together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the
hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand
on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand
as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling
shall be glorious.(NRSV)
-------
Goshen College
1700 South Main Street
Goshen, IN 46526 United States
(574) 535-7569
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment