Advent Devotion for Sunday, November 27, 2016 from Society of St. Andrew "Advent Devotions 2016" of Big Island, Virginia, United States

Advent Devotion for Sunday, November 27, 2016 from Society of St. Andrew "Advent Devotions 2016" of Big Island, Virginia, United States Sunday, November 27, 2016
The "Already There-ness" of Life
Scripture: Luke 1:4
Luke 1:4 so that you might know how well-founded are the things about which you have been taught.
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Recently I have been struck by the “already there-ness” of life. Luke’s nativity stories highlight that already there-ness. Elizabeth is there to receive the angel’s announcement. The inn is there, however humble. Heaven’s glorious starlight was already on its way before the shepherds were born. And more revealing still: Mary’s love is there, waiting to receive the child appearing from the unknowing darkness of the womb.
Curiously, every living thing, from human beings to the grass of the field, was born into a waiting world.
Some would discount the whole phenomenon of life’s evolution as nothing more than the chance result of physical forces and chemistry. But that is only half an answer. Like Mary, our mother’s love awaited us. And when we trace that love back to its Source, we find that Great Love in whom we live, and move, and have our being.
In Advent we anticipate the incarnation of that Great Love. We may cry at times, in fear or in need; but, like the newborn, it is only to receive the love that is already there. “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (John 1:18). That’s cause enough to join the angels’ chorus!
Prayer: Gracious Lord, open our hearts that we may see. Amen.[Richard Soulen, Williamsburg, Virginia]
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The Society of St. Andrew is a national nonprofit hunger-relief ministry that rescues 25-30 million pounds of fresh, nutritious, excess produce each year that would otherwise go to waste for various marketing reasons. This food is then distributed to critical feeding agencies across the country at no cost to the agencies or the hungry people they serve. More information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger-relief programs - Gleaning Network, Potato & Produce Project, and Harvest of Hope is available online at EndHunger.org.
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Big Island, Virginia 24526, United States

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