"A Distant Hope" by Joanna Epp & "A Road is Made" by Steve Nolt for Wednesday, 26 & 27 November 2014

"A Distant Hope" by Joanna Epp & "A Road is Made" by Steve Nolt for Wednesday, 26 & 27 November 2014

"A Distant Hope" by Joanna Epp, a junior environmental science major from Newton, Kansas SCRIPTURE: Psalm 80: An Asaph Psalm 1-2 Listen, Shepherd, Israel’s Shepherd—     get all your Joseph sheep together. Throw beams of light     from your dazzling throne So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh     can see where they’re going. Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough!     Come on the run before it’s too late. 3 God, come back!     Smile your blessing smile:     That will be our salvation. 4-6 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,     how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano     while your people call for fire and brimstone? You put us on a diet of tears,     bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink. You make us look ridiculous to our friends;     our enemies poke fun day after day. 7 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!     Smile your blessing smile:         That will be our salvation. 8-18 Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt,     cleared out the brambles and briers     and planted your very own vineyard? You prepared the good earth,     you planted her roots deep;     the vineyard filled the land. Your vine soared high and shaded the mountains,     even dwarfing the giant cedars. Your vine ranged west to the Sea,     east to the River. So why do you no longer protect your vine?     Trespassers pick its grapes at will; Wild pigs crash through and crush it,     and the mice nibble away at what’s left. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, turn our way!     Take a good look at what’s happened     and attend to this vine. Care for what you once tenderly planted—     the vine you raised from a shoot. And those who dared to set it on fire—     give them a look that will kill! Then take the hand of your once-favorite child,     the child you raised to adulthood. We will never turn our back on you;     breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name! 19 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!     Smile your blessing smile:     That will be our salvation.(The Message) DEVOTIONAL: Today’s passage follows the week’s theme of asking God to reveal hope in this Advent season. “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved,” verse three implores. This phrase is repeated twice more in the selection, each time growing more urgent as the writer transitions from addressing the Lord as “O God” in verse three to “O God of hosts” in verse seven to “O Lord God of hosts” in verse 19. The imagery of God’s shining face is certainly powerful at this time of year. As the snow falls, we realize we must accept the inevitable — winter is here to stay. We draw back into hibernation, dreaming of blossoming flowers and warm breezes. It is the pitch black of winter mornings that we wake up to, early and cold, and too soon the darkness returns in early evening. At this dreary time of year, the promise of God’s gloriously shining face is an incredible and hopeful dream — one that perhaps we’d like to be here now, rather than some distant hope. But, as one of my favorite passages on hope reminds us, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:24-25). At this early point in Advent season, as we reluctantly accept the imminence of winter, it is helpful to remember that “hope that is seen is not hope.” The process of hoping, of longing — of Advent — is not just a means to an end; it is a very important and meaningful step along the way. SCRIPTURE: Psalm 80:To the leader: on Lilies, a Covenant. Of Asaph. A Psalm. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us the scorn of our neighbours; our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.(New Revised Standard Version) The post A Distant Hope appeared first on Devotions.

"A Road is Made" by Steve Nolt, professor of history and Study-Service Term leader in China

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 1:3 May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours.

4-6 Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There’s no end to what has happened in you—it’s beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.

7-9 Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that. (The Message)

DEVOTIONAL:

I’m reflecting on today’s text and this year’s Advent theme while in Nanchong, China, where my family has been accompanying a group of Goshen College students on their Study-Service Term.

Thinking about hope in this context, I was reminded of the words of Lu Xun, one of China’s most important modern writers. In 1921 he wrote, “Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like roads across the earth. For actually the earth had no roads to begin with, but when many people pass one way, a road is made.” For Lu, hope was not abstract or distant, but emerged from persistent action, in the present, by people around him.

I hear a similar sentiment from the Apostle Paul in today’s text. Amid all the things that might have discouraged him (read the rest of his letter to the Corinthians!), he found hope in God’s faithfulness as revealed in the ordinary lives of the believers in Corinth and in their daily witness in their world. They awaited a fuller revelation of the Lord, but their waiting was not an idle pause or an aimless hiatus. Enriched in speech and knowledge, not lacking in any spiritual gift, they were, imperfectly but surely, the living body of Christ in their community. And a road was made.

May hope be revealed to us, not only as a distant destination, but also as the journey itself: in the small, sometimes faltering, steps of faith – our own and those around and before us – that carry us onward. And a road is made.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 1:Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind — just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you — so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.(New Revised Standard Version)

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