Tag: Digging in Deeper

Advent Reflections: Luke 11:1-4

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“He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘Whenever you pray, say, Father, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Throughout the season of Advent, we are to be preparing ourselves for Jesus’ arrival. One of the best ways to do this is through the spiritual disciplines. Of these several lines of ancient practice intended to put us into a posture of readiness for the action of God in, through, and around us, prayer sits among the most foundational. Knowing how to pray is something we often wonder about. Thankfully, Jesus gave us some instructions. Let’s talk about them.

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Advent Reflections: 1 Peter 5:6-7

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“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Years ago I was watching a cooking show, and the host went out of her way to emphasize that salt is not a spice. When used properly, it is a flavor enhancer. It takes what is already there and highlights it and makes it more pronounced in the dish. Yesterday we talked about the importance of humility in the Advent journey. Humility, like salt, is fundamentally about being honest. And when we are honest, a host of other things begin to become possible. One of these is something the apostle Peter highlights here. Let’s talk about a powerful thing humility can accomplish in and for us.

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Advent Reflections: Matthew 2:1-2

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“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Starting with today, I think we have something on the calendar just about every single day for the next three weeks. That seems to happen every year at this time. Winter sports begin and every group wants to have a holiday gathering and there are extra church activities and there’s extra shopping to be done and decorating the house and all of that sits on top the regular events and meetings that don’t stop simply because there’s extra stuff going on. All of this busyness can easily overwhelm us and leave us completely unprepared for the actual celebration that lies ahead of us. Rather than getting excited for the season, we just want it to be over. How do we keep that from happening? As we begin our Advent journey today, let’s talk about keeping our focus where it most needs to be.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus: 40:34-38

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“The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud rested on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The Israelites set out whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle throughout all the stages of their journey. If the cloud was not taken up, they did not set out until the day it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and there was a fire inside the cloud by night, visible to the entire house of Israel throughout all the stages of their journey.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Here at last, then, we come to the end. We have been slowly but surely working our way through the narrative of Exodus for a little over a year and a half. And while we haven’t hit every single word directly (especially over these last few posts for reasons I explained as we were getting started on them), I’ve linked you to every bit of the text. More than once. I’ve never tackled a project like this with such thoroughness, and I’ll admit that I was a little leery at the start because of its sheer size and scope. Yet God has been good and faithful. Personally, I’ve come to understand just how thoroughly soaked in the Gospel the Exodus narrative is, and I hope you have too. It is soaked in the Gospel, but it is not the Gospel. We are reminded of that here at the end with a potent pointer to just how good and important the Gospel is. As we wrap up this whole journey today, let’s marvel together at another way God was planting the seeds of the Gospel long before it became a reality.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 36:8-39:30-31

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“All the skilled artisans among those doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains. Bezalel made them of finely spun linen, as well as blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them. . . .They made a medallion, the holy diadem, out of pure gold and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving on a seal: Holy to the Lord. They attached a cord of blue yarn to it in order to mount it on the turban, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” (CSB – Read chapter 36; chapter 37; chapter 38; chapter 39)

I’ve talked before recently about the fact that my church is in a building process. We’ve been here for a long time. In fact, they have been slowly walking down this path for twice as long as I’ve even been here. Just before Covid hit we at long last thought we were at the point we could start building. But then we couldn’t because of Covid. And for a while we were pretty discouraged. All that work on developing plans and we weren’t going to get to actually build it. And yet, by God’s grace, here we are again: ready to build. Developing plans to build without actually building is pointless. Israel had plans to build. It was finally time to bring it into reality. Let’s talk about how that process unfolded.

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