Nashville, Tennessee, United States - Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily words of wisdom and faith “Pause and Breath" for Monday, 1 December 2014

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily words of wisdom and faith “Pause and Breath" for Monday, 1 December 2014
Today’s Reflection:
IN THE SEASON of Advent, we are called to share the hope that we have in Christ with a hope-famished world. …
Prepare your heart to be open to this season before you, a season full of sights and sounds and needs. Commit to setting aside a brief time every day to read [a] scripture and meditation for the day. Pause and breathe. God is near.[Light of Lights]
From page 9 of Light of Lights: Advent Devotions from The Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide, compiled and edited by Robin Pippin. Copyright © 2014 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
If you do not read scripture and pray each day, consider doing so during the remainder of Advent.
Today’s Scripture:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.[Isaiah 40:1-2, NRSV]

This Week: pray for estranged friends.
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Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember:
Nicholas (December 6).
Nicholas
December 06
In the fourth century Nicholas was the bishop of Myra (present day Turkey) in Asia Minor. He was exiled and imprisoned during the Roman Emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians, and attended the important Council of Nicaea in 325. In the sixth century Emperor Justinian I built a basilica in his honor in Constantinople. Not many more substantiated facts are known about the man who over the centuries was transformed into Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.
From at least 1095 Nicholas has been popular. He is given credit for many miracles. Numerous legends have fostered the image of a man with a generous spirit who loved children. Russia's Vladmir I encouraged veneration of Nicholas. Dutch stories and traditions expanded Nicholas' connection with Christmas.
Nicholas died in Myra and is buried there. Many claim that an oily substance with healing powers known as Manna di Santo Nicola has exuded from his bones since his burial.
If Nicholas had taken the spiritual type test, he probably would have been a Lover. Nicholas is remembered on December 6.

Image is detail of St. Nicholas icon, compliments of St. Isaac of Syria Skete, www.skete.com.
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Lectionary Scriptures:
Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a

Mark 1:1-8
Isaiah 40: Messages of Comfort
Prepare for God’s Arrival
1-2 “Comfort, oh comfort my people,”
    says your God.
“Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem,
    but also make it very clear
That she has served her sentence,
    that her sin is taken care of—forgiven!
She’s been punished enough and more than enough,
    and now it’s over and done with.”
3-5 Thunder in the desert!
    “Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
    a highway fit for our God.
Fill in the valleys,
    level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
    clear out the rocks.
Then God’s bright glory will shine
    and everyone will see it.
    Yes. Just as God has said.”
6-8 A voice says, “Shout!”
    I said, “What shall I shout?”
“These people are nothing but grass,
    their love fragile as wildflowers.
The grass withers, the wildflowers fade,
    if God so much as puffs on them.
    Aren’t these people just so much grass?
True, the grass withers and the wildflowers fade,
    but our God’s Word stands firm and forever.”
9-11 Climb a high mountain, Zion.
    You’re the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
    You’re the preacher of good news.
    Speak loud and clear. Don’t be timid!
Tell the cities of Judah,
    “Look! Your God!”
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,
    ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
    and reward those who have loved him.
Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
    gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
    leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.
Psalm 85: A Korah Psalm
1-3 God, you smiled on your good earth!
    You brought good times back to Jacob!
You lifted the cloud of guilt from your people,
    you put their sins far out of sight.
You took back your sin-provoked threats,
    you cooled your hot, righteous anger.
8-9 I can’t wait to hear what he’ll say.
    God’s about to pronounce his people well,
The holy people he loves so much,
    so they’ll never again live like fools.
See how close his salvation is to those who fear him?
    Our country is home base for Glory!
10-13 Love and Truth meet in the street,
    Right Living and Whole Living embrace and kiss!
Truth sprouts green from the ground,
    Right Living pours down from the skies!
Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty;
    our land responds with Bounty and Blessing.
Right Living strides out before him,
    and clears a path for his passage.
2 Peter 3: The Day the Sky Will Collapse
8-9 Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
10 But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.
11-13 Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we’ll hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.
14-16 So, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace. Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation. Our good brother Paul, who was given much wisdom in these matters, refers to this in all his letters, and has written you essentially the same thing. Some things Paul writes are difficult to understand. Irresponsible people who don’t know what they are talking about twist them every which way. They do it to the rest of the Scriptures, too, destroying themselves as they do it.

Mark 1: John the Baptizer
1-3 The good news of Jesus Christ—the Message!—begins here, following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
Watch closely: I’m sending my preacher ahead of you;
He’ll make the road smooth for you.
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
4-6 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey.
7-8 As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary:
Isaiah 40:1-11
Verse 1
[1] Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Ye — Ye prophets and ministers.
Verse 2
[2] Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
Warfare — The time of her captivity, and misery.
Double — Not twice as much as her sins deserved, but abundantly enough to answer God's design in this chastisement, which was to humble and reform them, and to warn others by their example.
Verse 3
[3] The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
The voice — An abrupt speech. Methinks I hear a voice.
Wilderness — This immediately relates to the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, and smoothing their passage from thence to Judea, which lay through a great wilderness; but principally to their redemption by the Messiah, whose coming was ushered in by the cry of John the baptist, in the wilderness.
Prepare ye the way — You to whom this work belongs. He alludes to the custom of princes who send pioneers before them to prepare the way through which they are to pass. The meaning is, God shall by his spirit so dispose mens hearts, and by his providence so order the affairs of the world, as to make way for the accomplishment of his promise. This was eminently fulfilled, when Christ, who was, and is God, blessed for ever, came into the world in a visible manner.
Verse 6
[6] The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Cry — God speaks unto his ministers.
He — The prophet.
All flesh — The prophet having foretold glorious things, confirms the certainty of them, by representing the vast difference between the nature, and word, and work of men and of God. All that men are or have, yea, their highest accomplishments, are but like the grass of the field, weak and vanishing, soon nipt and brought to nothing; but God's word is like himself, immutable and irresistible: and therefore as the mouth of the Lord, and not of man, hath spoken these things, so doubt not but they shall be fulfilled.
Verse 9
[9] O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Zion — Zion or Jerusalem is the publisher, and the cities of Judah the hearers.
Get up — That thy voice may be better heard.
Afraid — Lest thou shouldest be found a false prophet.
Say — To all my people in the several places of their abode.
Behold — Take notice of this wonderful work, and glorious appearance of your God.
Verse 10
[10] Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
His arm — He shall need no succours, for his own power shall be sufficient to govern his people, and to destroy his adversaries.
His reward — He comes furnished with recompences as well of blessings for his friends, as of vengeance for his enemies.
His work — He carries on his work effectually: for that is said in scripture to be before a man which is in his power.
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Verse 1
[1] LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Captivity — The captives.
Verse 8
[8] I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Will hear — Diligently observe.
Will speak — What answer God will give to my prayers.
Peace — He will give an answer of peace.
Saints — Not to all that are called God's people, but only to those who are truly such.
Verse 9
[9] Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
His salvation — That compleat salvation for which all the Israel of God wait; even the redemption by the Messiah; of which not only Christian, but even Jewish writers understand this place; and to which the following passages properly belong. And the psalmist might well say this salvation was nigh, because the seventy weeks determined by Daniel were begun.
Glory — The glorious presence of God, and the God of glory himself, even Christ, who is the brightness of his father's glory.
Verse 10
[10] Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Kissed — That great work of redemption by Christ, shall clearly manifest God's mercy in redeeming his people Israel, and in the conversion of the Gentiles; his truth in fulfilling that great promise of sending his son, his righteousness in punishing sin, on his son, and in conferring righteousness upon guilty and lost creatures; and his peace or reconciliation to sinners, and that peace of conscience which attends upon it.
Verse 11
[11] Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Truth — Truth among men.
Righteousness — And God's justice shall be satisfied: he shall look down upon sinful men with a smiling countenance.
Verse 13
[13] Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Before him — As his harbinger. He shall fulfil all righteousness, he shall satisfy the righteousness of God, and shall advance righteousness and holiness among men.
Set us — Shall cause us to walk in those righteous ways wherein he walketh.
2 Peter 3:8-15a

Verse 8
[8] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
But be not ye ignorant — Whatever they are.
Of this one thing — Which casts much light on the point in hand.
That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day — Moses had said, Psalms 90:4, "A thousand years in thy sight are as one day;" which St. Peter applies with regard to the last day, so as to denote both his eternity, whereby he exceeds all measure of time in his essence and in his operation; his knowledge, to which all things past or to come are present every moment; his power, which needs no long delay, in order to bring its work to perfection; and his longsuffering, which excludes all impatience of expectation, and desire of making haste.
One day is with the Lord as a thousand years — That is, in one day, in one moment he can do the work of a thousand years. Therefore he "is not slow:" he is always equally ready to fulfil his promise.
And a thousand years are as one day — That is, no delay is long to God. A thousand years are as one day to the eternal God. Therefore "he is longsuffering:" he gives us space for repentance, without any inconvenience to himself. In a word, with God time passes neither slower nor swifter than is suitable to him and his economy; nor can there be any reason why it should be necessary for him either to delay or hasten the end of all things. How can we comprehend this? If we could comprehend it, St. Peter needed not to have added, with the Lord.
Verse 9
[9] The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The Lord is not slow — As if the time fixed for it were past.
Concerning his promise — Which shall surely be fulfilled in its season.
But is longsuffering towards us — Children of men. Not willing that any soul, which he hath made should perish.
Verse 10
[10] But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief — Suddenly, unexpectedly.
In which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise — Surprisingly expressed by the very sound of the original word.
The elements shall melt with fervent heat — The elements seem to mean, the sun, moon, and stars; not the four, commonly so called; for air and water cannot melt, and the earth is mentioned immediately after. The earth and all the works - Whether of nature or art.
That are therein shall be burned up — And has not God already abundantly provided for this? 1. By the stores of subterranean fire which are so frequently bursting out at Aetna, Vesuvius, Hecla, and many other burning mountains. 2. By the ethereal (vulgarly called electrical) fire, diffused through the whole globe; which, if the secret chain that now binds it up were loosed, would immediately dissolve the whole frame of nature. 3. By comets, one of which, if it touch the earth in its course toward the sun, must needs strike it into that abyss of fire; if in its return from the sun, when it is heated, as a great man computes, two thousand times hotter than a red-hot cannonball, it must destroy all vegetables and animals long before their contact, and soon after burn it up.
Verse 11
[11] Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Seeing then that all these things are dissolved — To the eye of faith it appears as done already.
All these things — Mentioned before; all that are included in that scriptural expression, "the heavens and the earth;" that is, the universe. On the fourth day God made the stars, Genesis 1:16, which will be dissolved together with the earth. They are deceived, therefore, who restrain either the history of the creation, or this description of the destruction, of the world to the earth and lower heavens; imagining the stars to be more ancient than the earth, and to survive it. Both the dissolution and renovation are ascribed, not to the one heaven which surrounds the earth, but to the heavens in general, 2 Peter 3:10,13, without any restriction or limitation.
What persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation — With men.
And godliness — Toward your Creator.
Verse 12
[12] Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Hastening on — As it were by your earnest desires and fervent prayers.
The coming of the day of God — Many myriads of days he grants to men: one, the last, is the day of God himself.
Verse 13
[13] Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
We look for new heavens and a new earth — Raised as it were out of the ashes of the old; we look for an entire new state of things.
Wherein dwelleth righteousness — Only righteous spirits. How great a mystery!
Verse 14
[14] Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Labour that whenever he cometh ye may be found in peace - May meet him without terror, being sprinkled with his blood, and sanctified by his Spirit, so as to be without spot and blameless. Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22.
Verse 15
[15] And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
And account the longsuffering of the Lord salvation — Not only designed to lead men to repentance, but actually conducing thereto: a precious means of saving many more souls.
As our beloved brother Paul also hath written to you — This refers not only to the single sentence preceding, but to all that went before. St. Paul had written to the same effect concerning the end of the world, in several parts of his epistles, and particularly in his Epistle to the Hebrews. Romans 2:4.
Mark 1:1-8
Verse 1
[1] The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — The evangelist speaks with strict propriety: for the beginning of the Gospel is in the account of John the Baptist, contained in the first paragraph; the Gospel itself in the rest of the book. Matthew 3:1; Luke 3:1
Verse 2
[2] As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Malachi 3:1
Verse 3
[3] The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Isaiah 40:3.
Verse 4
[4] John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Preaching the baptism of repentance — That is, preaching repentance, and baptizing as a sign and means of it.
Verse 7
[7] And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose — That is, to do him the very meanest service.
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