Advent Devotional Resource - San Francisco Theological Seminary
Advent Devotional Resource - San Francisco Theological Seminary
Advent Devotional Resource - San Francisco Theological Seminary
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Sunday, November 29Amos 1:1-5; 1:13-2:8The book of Amos begins with a bold assertion that Yahweh is Lord and judge over all the nations.God’s voice of judgment is stylized as the “roar” of an angry lion (verse 2). First in verses 1:3-2:3,God’s successive judgment on the sins of seven nations that are Israel’s neighbors is proclaimed withthe repetitive formula: “For three transgressions … and for four … I will not revoke the punishment.”To this point, God’s chosen people have been allowed to bask in righteous indignation at theevil “out there” in the lives of others, on the assumption that God’s favor is on their side. But thentheir presumption and complacency are shattered when the divine judgment is focused in 2:4-8squarely on Judah, and then even more squarely on Israel. The rest of Amos focuses on the sins ofJudah and Israel, our sins…not theirs.The problem? Social injustice. The royal family and leaders of Israel in this period are comfortableand affluent while ordinary Israelites and Judeans struggle to meet their basic needs. The richand powerful demonstrate a shocking lack of compassion and moral/ethical values. They are notlistening to the Word of the Lord. This complacent self-satisfaction is justified through deceit andmanipulation.In I Peter 4:17, the New Testament church is warned that “judgment begins with the household ofGod.” Our capitulation to American cultural values, our affluence, our comfortable lives in Marin,our righteous indignation at the sins of others; none of these are that different from the lives of thewealthy and powerful to whom Amos’ prophetic word is addressed. In this <strong>Advent</strong> season, let us turnthe finger of God’s judgment around on ourselves when we are tempted to point it toward others.Which of us is righteous? Who among us has not wounded and oppressed our sister or our brother?Who are we to assume we are the victim and someone else is the oppressor?Judgment begins with the household of God.God of grace, forgive our self-righteousness. Humbly, may we open our hearts, our lives, our lifestyles to theprophetic critique of your Word. And may we respond to you with graciousness and compassion, as we seekto be bearers of your justice and righteousness, both in our lives and in the world.Rev. Dr. Philip W. ButinSFTS PresidentProfessor of Theology
Isaiah 60:1–3Monday, November 30“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of YHWH has risen upon you.See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but YHWH rises upon you andhis glory appears over you.” Who does not know these famous verses, be it directly from the Bible,an <strong>Advent</strong> sermon, or from Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paulus? No doubt, these verses can easily to beconnected with Jesus Christ—just compare them with John 8:12: “I am the light of the world.Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” In Mendelssohn’soratorio this connection is made explicit by continuing with the Lutheran choral “Wachet aufruft uns die Stimme / Wake awake and hear the voices” and its reference to the groom Christ andMatthew 25:1–13, respectively.But let us leave the New Testament aside for a moment and first look back at an older text fromthe Old Testament: Isaiah 40-55. From these Deutero-Isaianic chapters we can learn that the “you”addressed in Isaiah 60 is Jerusalem (in Hebrew a “she”). Already in 51:17 and 52:2 Jerusalem wasasked to get up, let her shocking past of having being exiled to Babylon be past, and—with YHWH’sforgiveness and help—start into a new future. This prospect is connected with “the servant ofYHWH,” who is appointed to restore Israel and be light to the nations (cf. 49:5–6). According toIsaiah 40–55, this new era is very close, if not already dawning.In Isaiah 60:1–3, however, Jerusalem is still down (“rise up”), and the earth and the nations are stillin darkness. The passage addresses the discrepancy between promise and reality—a discrepancy weknow very well ourselves. In this situation, Jerusalem is assured that despite the darkness there is light:the “glory” (kabōd) of YHWH that has risen upon her—and her own light, enkindled by the presenceof God. As typical for an “advent” text, Isaiah 60:1–3 contains a tension between “already” and “notyet”: the “glory” of YHWH has already risen upon Jerusalem (v.1), but one day YHWH shall rise overher (v.2)—over a fully rebuilt city, where everybody lives in peace and foreigners are welcome (cf.60:18; 61:4f).In this “already-not yet” situation, Jerusalem is asked to “arise” and “shine”. While it is clear that thelight comes from YHWH only (cf. 45:7; 60:19), Jerusalem in the past and we today are asked toallow to be enflamed, and to carry the light into the world—a world that still suffers from darknessbut has the promise of the arisen light of God.Dr. Annette SchellenbergSFTS Assistant Professor of Old Testament
Tuesday, December 1Matthew 1: 22-23God of the Here and NowOne of the names for Jesus in the Christmas story is “Emmanuel,” which is a fulfillment of theHebrew prophecy. In the Matthew text, Emmanuel is translated for the reader as “God with us.”(Mt 1:23). This title is usually understood in a spatial framework—Jesus is God with us here, notGod in heaven. People in Biblical times understood the heavens to be “up there” in the clouds. Godwas not here, but up there in heaven, on a throne, surrounded by angels.Emmanuel could also be understood in a temporal frame of reference—Jesus is God with us now.God is no longer to be found in the past as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob …” Nor is God tobe found in the future as the expected Messiah, to come in power and glory. Rather, Jesus is God withus now, in the present moment. We might say Jesus is God in the “here and now.”Even though God can be found in the past and the future, many of the most inspiring and spiritualmoments of life are in “the present”. Remember when you last saw a magnificent sunset from amountain peak. In those moments, all of your senses were heightened, as you absorbed the colors,the smells, temperature, the images, and the sounds. You were fully alive in “the present!” How aboutspiritual peak experiences? Perhaps you can remember when you first gazed into the eyes of yournewborn child. A precious moment, a sacred bonding, an occasion when time seemed to stand stillfor a moment or two. The present was everything. Professional athletes who reach the pinnacle oftheir careers—a Super Bowl, a Stanley Cup, or a retirement ceremony capping a career—advise theirpeers, if they are ever so fortunate to get there, “Enjoy the moment.” Take in every sight, sound,word, and sensation. Yes, these are once in a lifetime events and they are special, because they inviteus to fully embrace “the present.” Various spiritual practices have focused on helping us become moreaware of God’s presence in the present, God’s often unseen and unrecognized presence in the present.God in Christ is what Paul Tillich termed the “eternal now.”When Jesus leaves earth he promises “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:8). This promise endsMatthew’s gospel, even as the announcement of “Emmanuel” opens his story. This phrase can beunderstood temporally too—Jesus is now the “living Christ,” the resurrected one, who is always withus in the present moment. He is eternally in our present and thus ever present.Lord Jesus, who comes to us in the present and is ever present with us, give us eyes to see you clearly in thisadvent season, from the extraordinary to the ordinary, from the sacred to the profane, grant us the eyes to seeyou everywhere and the love to open up our hearts to your entry. We pray in the precious name, Emmanuel.Amen.Rev. Dr. R. Scott SullenderSFTS Associate Professor of Pastoral CounselingDirector of Lloyd Counseling Program
II Peter 3:1-10Wednesday, December 2II Peter evokes no warm memories of Christmas past. It does not sing itself in Handelian strains. Itoffers the Christmas card industry no glowing well-swept stable scenes. In fact, it seems to evoke noassociations at all. My usual sources for exegetical insight: breakfast time at home and the van ridefrom Berkeley to <strong>San</strong> Anselmo came up with nothing. Whatever is the lectionary thinking of?Borrowing the illustrious name and biography of the apostle Peter for authenticity and citing thechurch’s foremost letter writer, the apostle Paul, seem to have sufficed to get this late letter into thecanon. Writing in the (?) second century CE to a congregation waiting for promised but evidentlydelayed delivery from this corrupt world, the author urges the cultivation of a cumulative list ofPauline virtues: adding to faith () first of all virtue (), then knowledge (, self–control (, patience or endurance (,love for others , and finallythe highest form of love (. The addressees are assured of their eventual reward, entering intothe lasting reign of our Lord and Savior while the false prophets and teachers among them will bedestroyed, as surely as Noah survived the flood, and Lot the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah. Thatis, as long as they cling to the true way of thinking ( that Peter recalls to their minds.Scoffers will jeer, “where is the promised coming? Everything is just as it always has been since thebeginning of creation . . .” “Peter” assures his readers that just as the heaven and earth of old wereconstituted from and by water by the word of God and then destroyed by water in the flood, also byGod’s word the present heavens and earth have been preserved for eventual destruction by fire in thecoming day of judgment. It’s the timetable that’s the problem. Remember that one day for the Lordis as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord of the promise is not actually slowto act as people think of slowness; the Lord is patient and forbearing (, not wishing todestroy but to give all time to change their way of thinking (. In the meantime, they areto take this patience of the Lord as salvation, waiting with patient endurance for the new heaven andearth in which righteousness dwells.We know what it’s like to be waiting: waiting for the last budget cut, waiting for the stock marketto bounce back, waiting for stimulus money, waiting for health care reform. Yet now the cataclysm,the end of the world as we know it in fire or flood, seems nearer than ever. Can our patience inenduring the wait for deliverance ever match the patience of the Lord, waiting for us to change ourway of thinking? Is the Lord’s patience with us and delay indeed our salvation or must we endure thecataclysm to attain it?Let us pray for the love that is patient and forbearing, . . . holds faith in all things, hopes all things,and endures all things.Dr. Polly CooteSFTS Registrar, Associate Dean for Student LifeAssociate Professor of Biblical Greek
Thursday, December 3“Joy to the World”Hymn: Isaac Watts, 1719Tune: Lowell Mason, 1848Isaac Watts based the words of “Joy to the World” on Psalm 98. This beloved hymn is another ofWatts’ many beautiful and innovative treatments of Psalm texts that revitalized congregational songin the early 18th century. In 1719, he published a collection of hymns called The Psalms of David,Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. “Jesus Shall Reign Where E’er the Sun” is anotherhymn from this collection of “Psalm settings.”Although “Joy to the World” is sung almost exclusively as a Christmas carol, it was actually intendedas a hymn about the Kingdom of God after Christ’s return. Although this hymn will always be sungas a much-loved Christmas carol, read through this text and consider it through the lens of Watts’original intention:Joy to the world! The LORD has come:Let earth receive her King.Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,And heav’n and nature sing, and heav’n and nature sing.And heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.Joy to the world! The Savior reigns:Let men their tongues employ,While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plainsRepeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.No more let sins and sorrows grow,Nor thorns infest the ground:He comes to make His blessings flowFar as the curse is found, far as the curse is found,Far as, far as the curse is found.He rules the world with truth and grace,And makes the nations proveThe glories of His righteousnessAnd wonders of His love, and wonders of His love,And wonders, wonders of His love.For many years the tune has been mistakenly attributed to George Friedrich Handel, the composerof the Messiah. The actual composer was Lowell Mason, who has been called “the father of Americanchurch music.” Mason was the first music teacher in an American public school, and was co-founderof the Boston Academy of Music. Mason was a devoted music educator and wrote more than 1,600compositions for the church.Dr. Daniel HoggattSFTS Professor of Church Music
Saturday, December 5Jude 17-25Fire. It’s a racer’s greatest fear—or at least ranks in the top three. Race car drivers and builders alwaysprep for the worst. They live on this fine line, pushing the envelope of safety. They build cars to gofast, but as they get faster, they also try to build them safer, encasing themselves in metal, foam, andrubber. They calculate where weaknesses may be and where breaks may occur, and then force themto occur where the cars may fall apart, but the driver is left intact. They build everything to keep thedriver in, secure and safe, to roll (sometimes literally) with the punches, except when it comes to fire.When it comes to fire, racers want to get out as quickly as possible. Fire is unpredictable, fierce, fastmoving, all consuming, and destructive. All of the safeties drivers put around them to keep them safewill only destroy them in the site of fire. They have to get out, leave them (their safeties) all behind toescape that which will consume them to the end.We are the same. In this race we call life, we ride in the fast lane. We pursue our pleasures and ourresponsibilities at breakneck speed. We try to “protect” ourselves with insurance and financial security.We cushion ourselves with family, friends, hobbies, and recreations of all varieties. Yet, this is allvulnerable to the fire that would consume us to the end. None of these things will protect us from it.On the contrary, they often bind us in place so that we can’t escape.Enter Christ, baby warrior, to protect the masses. Where the Jews looked for a victorious conqueror,God sent a sacrificial surrender of the heart. When they sought protection and deliverance in the fleshin the present, God gave it in the spiritual, the eternal and everlasting. God called them and us to laydown their/our conventional safeguards and run to true safety—run to Him.In this <strong>Advent</strong> season, let us not become trapped by our comforts, presuppositions, or rituals, but findfreedom in the relationship, in God’s presence.“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence withoutfault and with great joy!” (24)Ms. Tina KollmannSFTS staffDirector, Raceway Ministries of California, Bay Area
Luke 1:57-68Sunday, December 6This passage opens with great rejoicing, rejoicing with and for Elizabeth and Zechariah on theoccasion of the birth of their son. The birth of a long-awaited child is cause for celebration and thischild was indeed long awaited. In this, the first birth story in Luke’s gospel, we are called back tostories from the first testament as expressions of delight at the birth of a child ring through time andplace and echo in the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. One can almost hear the great Amens ofSarah and Abraham and Hannah and Elkanah who knew full well the bounty of this gift and thedepth of gratitude that wells up in the hearts of those so richly blessed.The voice of Zechariah, however, was conspicuously absent. How difficult it must have been forhim to be silent during these days of gestation; how burdensome to carry the weight of his fears anddoubts from the time of Gabriel’s announcement through the joyous celebration at the time of thebirth. Yet, as he was called upon to confirm the name of the child what he knew about this child, andas he presented it in writing to the family and friends—in spite of its not being what they expected—Zechariah’s speech was restored and he blessed God.As we enter this time of advent (and the synchronous “sounds” of the season), we would do well toponder the silence of Zechariah. In our frantic and clamorous world, the idea of enforced silence canbe frightening, but perhaps this is just the season for rethinking our attitude about silence. Perhapsrather than punishment, the silence of Zechariah was a gift.In her book, The Weather of the Heart, Madeleine L’Engle writes, “The stilled voice learns to hold itspeace, to listen with the heart to silence that is joy, is adoration.” The year 2009 has been replete withnoise, the noise of war, the noise of crumbling economies, the noise of hunger and the noise of pain.As we await once again the birth of the Christ, may we seek and accept the gift of silence. May weallow it to open a space in our hearts for the Christ child. Then, when the moment has arrived thatwe are able to declare the good news, may we—like Zechariah—let loose our tongues with praise andprophesy.Rev. Dr. Judy Yates SikerSFTS/SC Vice PresidentProfessor of New Testament and Christian Origins
Monday, December 7Revelations 1: 1-8To say that our culture has forgotten the “reason for the season” of Christmas has become a cliché.When the birth of God in human form is trivialized with glitter and tinsel it is obvious that thesignificance of the event is lost. When the saintly roots of <strong>San</strong>ta are lost in piles of paper andpackages, the why we celebrate the event is obviously remote. Yet, there is hope. I don’t believe thegreed for stuff, the dullness of too much eggnog, or the time off work is why Christmas remains sopopular.Something deep in our human soul longs for the mystery and miracle behind the shiny decorations,the superficial greetings, and abundance of gifts. We want something more in life and hold on to theholy-day trappings in the hope that their meaning will emerge in spite of our abuses of them. Thislonging is the beginning of a spiritual life. When we honor it, nurture it, and bless it God can be bornin us yet again. This is the miracle of Christmas.When we think of the Book of Revelation, our minds go immediately to visions, beasts, and howmany angels fit on the head of a pin. But the opening words in Revelation 1:1-8 pull us back tothe real purpose of the book. It is the “revelation of Jesus Christ” shared in a vision to John to be ablessing to all who read and keep what is written. Written in a time of great persecution and danger,it is coded and veiled to protect the early Christian community, but its intent is clear—to make andstrengthen disciples of Jesus Christ.This is the purpose of the incarnation, of Jesus’ birth, to reveal the way home for us—the way tolove God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, because God first loved us. Jesus says, “I amthe Alpha and the Omega,” he is the beginning and the ending of all things, forever the same, theLord, our God. The purpose for the incarnation, the purpose for Jesus’ revelation, the purpose forcelebrating Christmas remains consistently the same—to remember that God is faithful and callsus to discipleship. To all people, young and old, happy and sad, bold and timid, all who wait andwonder, John says, “Now is the time to turn to God in Jesus Christ. Look! He is coming… he IScoming!”Rev. Dr. Steven E. Wirth (D. Min ’94)Pastor, Grace First Presbyterian Church, Long Beach, Calif.SFTS Trustee, Student Recruitment and Development CommitteeCommittee on RepresentationAlumni Representative
Matthew 22:34-46Tuesday, December 8Who is David’s Son?For my undergraduate degree I went to Davidson College in Davidson, NC (about 20 minutes northof Charlotte, for those interested). Only in passing did I think about the meaning of “Davidson.”The Presbyterian founders of Davidson back in 1837 were probably aware of its Scottish roots and itsmeaning, “Son of David.” (Who knew?!)The question in this text, however, is not “What is Davidson?” but rather “Who is David’s Son?” Forstarters—and to state the obvious—“David” refers to King David of the Hebrew Scriptures, in allhis glory and misdeeds. It was very important who his son would be, for royalty would be passed onin his blood, in David’s own flesh, and the kingdom would have its king. Although David had manysons, eventually Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba) was chosen as king. This is a dramatic andamazing story, and one I encourage you to check out if you haven’t already.Yet for us today, whoever the king’s son is not a very important question. The fact that PresidentObama does not have a son does not concern us because we elect our leaders through popularrepresentation. Yet when royalty is a matter of bloodline, as it has been for most of human history,whoever is the king’s son is very important. And so the Messiah – literally, the ‘Anointed One’ – mustbe of royal blood if he (or she) is to lead the people.And this is the question posed by Jesus: the Messiah is the son of whom? The Messiah’s authority is atstake in the question. The answer given is correct: the Son of David. And then Jesus throws them fora loop, quoting Psalm 110. Who is the Lord who sits to the right of Adonai, the Lord God? Couldthis Lord be the Messiah, so that the Messiah is actually not the son of David but the father?!This thought completely blew the Pharisees away. In fact, Matthew writes that from that day on theydid not ask Jesus anymore questions (although in 24:3 the disciples ask him a question about theend of the age). From here in Chapter 23, Matthew has Jesus launch into his final speeches beforethe crucifixion narrative begins, as if to say Jesus is the Anointed One, with authority, and all shouldlisten to what He has to say. It’s as if Jesus, confirmed as the Messiah, now has a license to preach.The Messiah is worth listening to and worthy of worship. We can love the Lord our God and ourneighbor because Jesus is our leader, our exemplar and pioneer of our faith. Jesus called God “Abba,”an endearing parental term in Aramaic that symbolizes an intense personal connection. The questionis not “Who is David’s son?” but rather “Whose son is David’s?”In this <strong>Advent</strong> season, we are all David’s sons. We are all children of God, calling upon our parentin heaven. We all have inherited God’s righteousness not by blood but by partaking in the blood ofChrist. Let us act now in righteous royalty; loving rather than shunning our neighbor, worshippingrather than ignoring our God. And in so doing, may the peace of Christ reign in our hearts and in allthose we embrace.Mr. Evans Presley McGowanSFTS M.Div., Intern
Wednesday, December 9Amos 8:1-14This Amos text, Chapter 8 verses 1 through 14, is jarring during this season of hope. It’s as thoughAmos says, “I’ve got some bad news, and I’ve got some really terrible news. The bad news is that Godhas had it with your hypocrisy, and the really terrible news is that there is no longer anything you cando about it!”What makes this even tougher is that Amos brings this news in the midst of good times. The basketof summer fruit (qayitz) in Amos’ vision symbolizes the vibrant economy of his day. If the New YorkTimes had been around in Amos’ day, the headlines would have been very different from the ones towhich we have grown accustomed in the last year and a half. They would have been more like, “DowJones Average Hits a New Record High.” “Unemployment at Lowest Rate in Decades.” “ConsumerConfidence Rises Again.”But on the back page of that same newspaper there could easily be a story about a homeless motherand her two children who are asked to leave a local shelter for abused women because her two monthtime period had expired. And so in a sharp pun, God says, “Yes, it is now the end (qetz) for Israel.”And here is our <strong>Advent</strong> word of hope. Perhaps not hope for an economy that depends on people’sacquiring more than they can afford and wasting more resources than they can use. Perhaps not hopefor empires that rely on “militarized state capitalism” (Noam Chomsky) or “global military-economicdomination” (Chalmers Johnson). The word of hope is that God insists on justice for the socially andeconomically invisible and marginalized. The widows, orphans and aliens, the tenant farmers, thediamond miners, the factory workers, the people trying to live on minimum wage.And ultimately, for all people. Brian McLaren suggests that we ask ourselves these questions: Whatbenefits will come to the rich if the poor are better off? What dangers and negative consequences willfollow for the rich if the poor are not better off? What kind of world do we bequeath to our childrenif addressing the world’s inequities becomes our sacred passion and personal ambition? Questions likethese can free our imaginations.And that is <strong>Advent</strong> hope.Rev. Dr. Joanne WhittPastor, First Presbyterian Church of <strong>San</strong> AnselmoSFTS Trustee, Executive CommitteeChair, Mission and Vision Task Force CommitteeFaculty and Curriculum Committee
Psalm 37:1-18Thursday, December 10The One Who Laughs Last, Laughs BestThis Psalm says the wicked thrive, and by wicked you may understand your special, most-hated person. The methods of the wicked arefrankly successful. For every Barnard Madoff brought to trial, there are probably hundreds or thousands who get away. The same goesfor liars, cheats, thieves, character assassins, child abusers, pushers, pimps, and murderers, not to mention certain run-of-the mill investors,capitalists, socialists, lawyers, politicians, contractors, relatives, and even a few clergy. It is the privilege of a minister to counsel at least oneof each in the course of one’s working life. The Psalm also says you should not worry, by reason of your faith in the plans of a just God.I make no secret of the fact that I frankly adore verses of vengeance in the Psalter, and I take tremendous pleasure chanting them in Latin.I close my eyes and visualize my enemies. I relish the syllables, raise my voice, and see bodies falling to the ground. There are swords andarms horribly broken. Gladius eorum intret in corda ipsorum! (verse 15). Quoniam brachia peccatorum conterentur! (verse 17). But alas,this Psalm, like many Psalms, presents what medieval theologians called an argumentum cornutum, a horned argument. Whichever pointof the Psalm you concede, a Christian should feel oneself caught on the horns of a moral dilemma.For, “you” are presumed to be a very particular kind of person who follows an absurdly selfless path, and you must follow this path almostblindly. Because, as the Psalm says, the wicked really do thrive, yet you should relax and count on their demise. All this believing, “Trustin the Lord . . . Take delight in the Lord,” which a Christian may associate with the kingdom of God as Jesus taught it, has a delightfullyReformation-Evangelical ring to it. But the Psalm requires much more of me than faith. The meek shall replace the wicked. It tells me tobe one of them, weak in fact, while possessing the confidence of a man or a woman who has actually inherited the earth. In this strangeway, the pleasure of vengeance should belong to those who don’t really feel it, and this leaves us caught on the horns of a dilemma. ThePsalmist has feelings. He wants to see blood, as it were. Is there not a little anger in singing the defeat of enemies or a little greed along theedges of the promise of an equal prosperity? How do I take comfort in such promises if I don’t actually want what the wicked have? I don’ttake this Psalm, or any Psalm of vengeance, as a mere statement of future victory. I think it encourages, confronts, and unsettles a certainmoral-emotional complex.It’s interesting to me that early Protestants took this Psalm not in the individualist-fideist manner I just suggested (those with faith shallbe violently vindicated by God – hurray), but as a description of the quality of life in the church. It’s frankly a hard life, since the churchis constantly persecuted and abused. The Psalm therefore offers a tremendous consolation to the faithful, said John Calvin. The Psalmis about the scandal of the cross to human reason, said Philip Melanchthon. It’s not that the mind objects to the success of the wicked.Melanchthon assumed that misery was normative in this life for everyone, and the righteous share this misery with the wicked. The humanmind, he said, cannot understand how good and evil people, the just and the unjust, should share the same miseries. The church should berewarded, while the evil deserve to suffer, yet both suffer together. And this is a cognitive problem. The wicked are bad at “figuring thingsout” (ratiocinare). They fail to grasp the “distant providence” of God. Yet confidence in this distant providence, the church’s relaxed faithin future justice, is not what Melanchthon saw emphasized here. The Psalm demands, he noted, that “we obey God, lest offended at thesight that sorrows are common (to the just and unjust), we fail.”The Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter, a Psalter often published with the King James Bible in the seventeenth century, began the Psalm likethis:Grudge not to see the wicked menin wealth to flourish stillNor yet envie such as to illhave bent and set their will.For as greene grasse and flourishing heathsare cut and wither away:So shall their great prosperitysoon passe, fade, and decay. . .And it continued later,Shake off despight, crime, and hate.Dr. Chris OckerSFTS Professor of Church History
Matthew 24:1-14Saturday, December 12<strong>Advent</strong>: the first season of the church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four precedingSundays. In Christian theology, the coming or second coming of Christ.The end of the world. Big stuff. Perhaps it seems vaguely uncontrollable, but does that make it irrelevant?What “end” are we talking about? What world are we talking about? R.E.M. is used below tocatalyze your reflections on such questions, as well as the Matthew passage.That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane—Lenny Bruce is not afraid.Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn, world serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs.Feed it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength. The ladder starts to clatter with fear fight down height.Wire in a fire, representing seven games, a government for hire and a combat site.Left of west and coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped. Look at that low playing! Fine, then. Uhoh, overflow, population, common food, but it’ll do. Save yourself, serve yourself.World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture and the reverent andthe right —right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.(Refrain)Six o’clock—TV hour. Don’t get caught in foreign towers. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourselfchurn. Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotiveincinerate.Light a candle, light a votive. Step down, step down.Watch your heel crush, crushed. Uh-oh, this means no fear cavalier. Renegade steer clear!A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and Idecline.(Refrain).The other night I dreamt of knives, continental drift divide. Mountains sit in a line. Leonard Bernstein.Leonid Brezhnev. Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs. Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom!You symbiotic, patriotic, slam book neck, right? Right.(Refrain) (Refrain) (Refrain) (Refrain)Mr. David TenBrookSFTS M.Div., MiddlerR.E.M. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”
Sunday, December 132 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 13-17In the MeantimeThis is a mean world, to try to live in,to try to stay in, until you die.Sweet Honey in the RockDuring <strong>Advent</strong>, we typically look either (1) back to the coming of Jesus as narrated in the stories ofthe Gospels (particularly Luke and Matthew), or (2) forward to the anticipated coming of Jesus inthe fullness of time. Both perspectives are appropriate. Neither is sufficient. This passage counsels acommunity on how to look for the presence of Jesus in the meantime—in their present life, righthere and now (or, actually, right there and then).And it seems like the community of this letter is, indeed, living in a mean time. The letter writerdescribes (and rails against) persecutors—those who are troubling the community (1:6-7), and whowill yet set upon the people a rampant “lawlessness” (2:7-12). What’s more, the community seems tobe freaking out in the belief that they are already caught up in the “day of the Lord” and a cataclysmicend time. They are a suffering and distressed people.So amid a screeching tirade against lawless persecutors, the writer of Second Thessalonians also offersthis panicked community words that are surprisingly pastoral: Slow down, folks. It is a mean time.But don’t become “quickly shaken in mind or alarmed.” “Comfort your hearts.” God chose you. TheSpirit sanctifies you. God calls you in the good news of Jesus Christ. Stand firm—God “love[s] us andthrough grace [gives] us eternal comfort and good hope.”Perhaps our <strong>Advent</strong> reflection can include these questions: How are we proclaiming this good news toGod’s people in our mean time? Where do we see the present presence of Jesus in this mean world?How are we naming the presence of Christ and embodying it for God’s hurting children? How do weand can we say to the world, “In the mean time, God in Jesus Christ brings good hope?”Mr. Scott ClarkSFTS Assistant ProfessorSFTS Interim Manager of the Program in Christian Spirituality
Matthew 24:32-44Monday, December 14Active Waiting“Keep awake, then, for you do not know on what day your Lord is to come”. Matthew 24:42What does this passage say to those of us who are members of the SFTS community? We find ourselvesat a time of change, a place of transition. The future is unclear, who will lead us, and where willwe be going?This verse from Matthew instructs us to “keep awake”. Why? “For you do not know on what dayyour Lord is to come”. This means we don’t know when God’s message will be made clear to us. Weneed to be awake to God’s plan for SFTS. We need to be actively awake. We can’t sit back and simplywait for the day it all becomes clear, but we need to be actively working to rebuild and redefine ourseminary so that God can work through us to make SFTS the vital, relevant institution that thechurch of today deserves.For all of us, faculty, students, administrators, staff, trustees, alumni, and our many supporters,we can’t simply rest and trust that God will work it out. We have to stay active in the work of theseminary and remain awake to God’s plan for our future.Mr. Peter Jan van BeverSFTS Trustee, Chair, Executive CommitteeCommittee of Trustees
Tuesday, December 15“O Come, O Come,Emmanuel”The Latin hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” appeared around the ninth century. Each verse ofthe original hymn begins with a biblical name for Messiah found in seven <strong>Advent</strong> antiphons sung theweek before Christmas. Try each verse as a prayer each of the seven days before Christmas.O Come, O Come, EmmanuelAnd ransom captive Israel,That mourns in lonely exile hereUntil the Son of God appear.Refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!O come, thou Wisdom from on high,Who ord’rest all things mightily;To us the path of knowledge show,And teach us in her ways to go. (Refrain.)O come, O come, thou Lord of might,Who to thy tribes on Sinai’s heightIn ancient times didst give the law,In cloud, and majesty, and awe. (Refrain.)O come, thou Rod of Jesse’s stem,From every foe deliver themThat trust they mighty power to save,And give them vict’ry o’er the grave. (Refrain.)O come, thou Key of David, come,And open wide our heav’nly home;Make safe the way that leads on high,And close the path to misery. (Refrain.)O come, thou Day-spring from on high,And cheer us by thy drawing nigh;Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,And death’s dark shadow put to flight. (Refrain.)O come, Desire of nations, bindIn one the hearts of all mankind;Bid though our sad divisions cease,And be thyself our King of Peace. (Refrain.)Dr. Daniel HoggattSFTS Professor of Church Music
Psalm 119:41-72Wednesday, December 16“May your unfailing love come to me, O Lord.Your salvation according to your promise” Psalm 119:41“My comfort in my suffering is this:Your promise preserves my life.” Psalm 119:50A friend of mine loaned me a Christmas cd recently and I popped it in the player as I reviewed andedited <strong>Advent</strong> devotionals. Probably my favorite Christmas song, “Mary Did You Know,” came onand stole my thoughts away.I remember when it first came out while I was in college. The imagery of the thoughts that may ormay not have gone through this young woman’s mind was haunting. Somehow, Mary digested thereality of the angel’s announcement. She dealt with public scrutiny and opinions. She dealt withscary changes to her body. She had approximately nine months to contemplate that she was entrustedwith and was carrying the most precious gift to mankind. Could she feel God’s presence envelop herthroughout this time? Could she feel God’s presence in her very womb? And once Jesus was born,what could have gone through her mind? We get a glimpse, but did she, could she fully know? Didshe know “that this child that she delivered would soon deliver her?” Did she know “that when shekissed her little baby, she kissed the face of God?” WOW!When you get caught up in the “Christmas spirit” this year, may it be an all encompassing awe of themiracle, the gift, the promise, the presence.Ms. Tina KollmannSFTS staffDirector, Raceway Ministries of California, Bay Area
Thursday, December 17Matthew 24:1-13This is a passage I would rather skip over. It offends my sensibilities. Instead of being life-giving, itis death-invoking. Instead of providing hope, it anticipates despair. The text is full of suspicion anddread. In line with other apocalyptic texts, the author assumes the world must end for a new world tobegin.But what sensibilities does it offend? Those of a white woman, living a comfortable suburban lifein a wealthy county in a prosperous nation governed by a system that mostly works for me. TheChristmas season for me is about the beauty of the Christmas story, getting cozy, and celebratingabundance with family and friends.But <strong>Advent</strong> has nothing to do with tinsel, hot cocoa, and gift-buying. It is a time of listening andjoining in solidarity with the voice of this text that is waiting for freedom and justice. Politically, theauthor is living in an occupied land, oppressed by taxes and discrimination. Scholars largely agreeMatthew was written in Antioch, a dirty and crowded city—more crowded than anything we canimagine today. Religiously, the central place of worship, the Jerusalem temple, has been destroyed.And within Judaism, the author is marginalized as a follower of Jesus. When you imagine the situation,these words are less offensive. Everything is falling apart and there is no thread to hang ontoexcept the “good news of the kingdom.”And what is that good news? Throughout Matthew, we hear a consistent message. It is to love Godand love our neighbor. It is to be to others as we would have them treat us. It is to feed the hungry,give water to the thirsty, and visit the imprisoned. It is to live life right side up in a world that isupside down in active hope that the systems of this world will work for the good of all people,not just the powerful, beautiful, and wealthy. This season, I pray we will listen to the voice of themarginalized, long more deeply for justice, and renew our commitment to the good news of thekingdom incarnated by Jesus.Ms. Jenny WarnerSFTS M.Div., Senior
Revelations 5:6-14Friday, December 18As a musician and singer, it is impossible for me to read this passage and not start humming thestrains from Handel’s Messiah that work with these verses. The words of verse 12 are especially wellknownthe world over precisely because of Handel’s great work. These are magnificent words: Worthyis the Lamb that was slain…Worthy indeed.And yet, I am a little saddened that these great words might possibly overshadow other equally importantwords that come earlier in the passage. Words found in verse 9. There the writer says: “…youwere slain and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and peopleand nation.”The God whose in-breaking we celebrate and await came to ransom people from every walk of life.While God chose to come to a specific place, time and people, that moment was not to be the onlyone to hold God’s amazing presence. God’s presence was and is meant for all. God reaches out to alland offers ransom to all.Our God is radically inclusive in sharing God’s love. Alleluia!As we wait for God’s coming again, let us follow God’s example in our own lives. Who is God askingfor us to open our hearts and lives to? Who do we hold back from engaging fully with?O God, source of unending, radical love, fill us to overflowing with your love. Help us to be as radically inclusivein our loving as you are. Give us the strength and courage to throw our arms wide open to embraceall you bring near to us. This we pray in the name of the one who was slain for our ransom, Jesus Christ.Amen.Rev. Leslie VeenSFTS Director of Field Education & Placement
Saturday, December 19Matthew 25:31-46Eternal Punishment, Eternal LifeMy formative spiritual development was both communal and personal. The context of my life of faithemanated from wherever I stood and with whomever I stood. And this life of faith was meant to bepassionate. Faith was a passionate, personal, and political way to self-actualize, create community, andresist evil. The faith journey meant being challenged and changed by the passion of serving, feeding,welcoming, clothing, visiting, and caring. It was pure passion ranging from exuberant delight toheart-rending pain as the “least of them” were seen. Faith meant seeing and being seen, feeding andbeing fed, caring and being cared for, welcoming for the stranger. This was life, eternal life.This biblical text is not an easy one for our <strong>Advent</strong> season. <strong>Advent</strong> certainly is not a time we want tobe reminded of eternal punishment. But our Christ makes it clear; eternal punishment comes fromnot seeing, not caring, not feeding, not welcoming, and not visiting the vulnerable among us. Do notwait to love. Do not be slow to care. Do not wait to see if you can see the Christ in another. If you waituntil you see who is deserving and what is deserved, it will be too late, you would have missed Christ.During this <strong>Advent</strong> season, show spontaneous mercy to those in need. Provide a ridiculous amountof care. Throw open your arms and welcome the stranger. Yes! Do not be afraid. Feed the hungryand clothe the naked. And then, after <strong>Advent</strong> is over, keep right on caring and seeing, feeding andclothing, welcoming and visiting! For this is the journey to eternal life!‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of theworld’.Rev. Laurie Garrett-CobbinaSFTS Shaw Family Chair for Clinical Pastoral Education
John 3:16-21Sunday, December 20“Yes, God so loved the world as to give the Only Begotten One, that whoever believes may not die,but have eternal life. God sent the Only Begotten into the world not to condemn the world, but thatthrough the Only Begotten the world might be saved. Whoever believes in the Only Begotten avoidsjudgment, but whoever doesn’t believe is judged already for not believing in the name of the OnlyBegotten of God. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light came into theworld, people showed they preferred the darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. Indeed,people who do wrong hate the light and avoid it, for fear their actions will be exposed; but peoplewho live by the truth come out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what they do is donein God.” (The Inclusive Bible). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .This passage reminds us that the Season of <strong>Advent</strong>—along with all of its other rich meanings—is atime of penitence. We prepare for Christ’s coming by stepping out from the shadows of our personaland communal sin and stepping into the light of God’s saving, healing love. This is, after all, why thelight that is Christ is given to the world: not to condemn, but to save/heal (the Greek swzw holdsboth meanings) the world.The theologian Tertullian draws upon natural phenomena as metaphors for the movement of HolyTrinity—root, shoot, fruit; spring, river, lake; etc. My favorite is his use of the sun and its light todescribe the way of God’s love. The first person of the Trinity is like the sun, making life possible;Christ is the sunbeam, bringing the sun’s rays to earth; and the Spirit is the warmth where the sun’slight arrives and has its effect. The sun, the sun’s light, and the sun’s warmth are indivisibly one—andits intentions are for life and love to flourish.As challenging and painful as it may be for me to step out of the shadows of my own personal darkness—orfor us as a community—there is also the gospel promise of healing and warmth that awaitsus within the light of Christ. He comes not to shame or damn us, but to bring us back to life andback to the way of love—to a place where all may flourish. “What wondrous love is this, O my soul!”Rev. Dr. Samuel Hamilton-PooreSFTS Director of the Program in Christian SpiritualityAssistant Professor of Christian Spirituality
Monday, December 21Luke 1: 1-25A song sung in the Taize community, in France, and in our chapel services contains these words,“Wait for the Lord God’s day is near, wait for the Lord be strong take heart.” This song came to mindas I read the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth who spent a long number of year’s waiting and prayingfor God’s Anointed One to come; waiting and praying for a child of their own; waiting and prayingfor an answer to their prayers. Devout and strong in the faith, and with a pedigree that reachedback to Israel’s Siniatic roots, this couple was well connected spiritually. Yet, because of Elizabeth’sbarrenness, she and Zechariah endured an indescribable emptiness while waiting for the Lord. Stillthey presented themselves before God and daily sought to honor their covenant with the Almighty.In the ordinariness of their days, while Zechariah was performing his once in a lifetime duty ofentering the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense, he experienced an epiphany. The Angel Gabrielappeared on the right side of the altar of incense and announced that a son would be born to thechildless couple. This was not to be just another birth but the birth of a child named, blessed, andcharged by God to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of the Lord. Lost for words Zechariahwas frozen silence. As incense rose inside the Temple and prayers of the people were lifted up toGod outside the holy place, God’s word was descending, mystically, in that ambience, upon thepriest and the people. The long wait was coming to an end—God was about to do a new thingthrough the chosen couple and through the Spirit-filled child who would be born to them. God’splan for redeeming and reconciling the world to God’s self was birthed that day in the Temple wheremultitudes worshipped and prayed daily for the coming of the Lord… and the God of their ancestorsheard their prayers and heeded them.When Zechariah received the announcement, he could hardly believe it; so in silence he was made toponder God’s promise that took shape in the womb of his beloved and grateful wife Elizabeth.During the season of <strong>Advent</strong>, Christians speak often about waiting for the second-coming of theLord. Our worship services echo scriptures and testimonies about waiting, watching, expecting,and seeking God’s light in the dark and difficult days in which we live. However, many of us, likeZechariah, are dutiful and go through the motions of religious observance but when Christ shows up,unexpectedly, we are not ready to receive Him. As a spiritual discipline this <strong>Advent</strong> Season considerinitiating a self imposed silence and, like Zechariah, wait and watch for the Lord. Like Elizabeth,consider ways to express gratitude for what the Lord has done for you. Then let your prayers, likeincense, be lifted up to the God who waits and longs to hear from you.Rev. Dr. Charles Marks,SFTS Associate Professor of MinistryEster M. Dornsife Chair for the <strong>Seminary</strong> Chaplain
Luke 1:26-38Tuesday, December 22How did she do it? Say yes, that is. It happened so quickly. She was just working one moment and thenext moment the messenger was standing there, speaking to her. “Hello, favorite of God. The Lord iswith you.” What could that mean? Favored? Why? How is God with me?The message quickly gets more incredible: “You have found favor with God, you will bear a sonwhom you will name Jesus.” Yeshua, savior. She knew the meaning of the name, but her son? Sheis not yet married, not yet with her fiancé. No wonder the messenger told her not to be afraid. Ofcourse she should be anxious—after all, such news would turn her world completely upside down.What about Joseph? And this son, her child, will be called the Son of the Most High. He will occupyDavid’s throne, and his kingdom will not come to an end. Incredible. Of course she should be afraid.Surprisingly, she has only one question: “How?” The messenger’s answer leaves the realm of causeand effect and logic: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High willovershadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Thepower of God’s Spirit is irresistible, powerful, transformative. She is ready, even though she does notknow, really, how things will unfold. “Yes,” she says, “Yes.”This <strong>Advent</strong>, we too are invited to listen so intently to the Holy Spirit that we too are open totransformation, are ready with our “Yes!” to God’s invitation coming in the midst of our ordinarylives. What will God’s messengers say to us? How can we prepare ourselves to be so ready to trustGod?Dr. Elizabeth LiebertSFTS Dean and Vice President for Academic AffairsProfessor of Spiritual Life
Wednesday, December 23Luke 1:39-56“My soul glorifies the Lordand my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”I’ll never forget my third week in pastoral ministry. My wife and I had just moved to Bellevue, Washingtonwith our 5 week old son, Taylor. Shortly after arriving on December 6th, the director of thechildren’s Christmas pageant asked us if Taylor could play the role of baby Jesus. With the trepidationof young parents, we said “o.k.”During each rehearsal, young Megan walked down the center aisle carrying little Taylor in her arms.Her mother, trying to reassure the young pastor and his wife, said to her daughter several times,“Whatever you do honey, don’t drop Taylor!” On Christmas Eve young Megan walked with Taylorheld tightly in her protective arms. As she walked up the first step of the chancel she stepped onher hem of her dress and took a small stutter step. We all froze and I stopped breathing. But Meganquickly caught her balance and kept going up the steps. When she reached the top step she looked atme and smiled, as if to say, “sorry about that brief scare!”During the pageant, as the lines were delivered and characters moved to and fro, I kept a close eyeon “Mary and baby Jesus.” I thought about the real Mary and how she probably wasn’t much olderthan young Megan and how courageous she was to have carried and given birth to Jesus our Savior.Despite being so young, she was an amazing person of faith.In the first chapter of Luke, when Elizabeth visits Mary, the Holy Spirit (and the jumping John theBaptist inside her womb), recognizes the presence of Jesus inside Mary’s womb. Elizabeth declaresMary “favored by God.” Mary responds with the memorable words, “My soul glorifies the Lordand my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” One commentator says, “It’s good when workers of gracerecognize one another!” I’d like to think that’s what we are at SFTS, workers of God’s grace. The HolySpirit in Elizabeth recognizes the Holy Spirit dwelling in Mary. For us, I believe it’s an <strong>Advent</strong> invitationfor our community at SFTS to recognize the Holy Spirit in each other.Rev. Peter D. CrouchSFTS Vice President for Institutional Advancement
Matthew 1:18-25Thursday, December 24As I write this I am aware of the annual rite of passage we put our first-year students through; that is,confronting the strangeness of that ancient Near Eastern text we call the Old Testament, written inthat ancient Near Eastern language we call Hebrew. I remember the little thrill I got when I saw howexactly the term “Immanuel” translates to “God with us,” because this is for me the most powerfulmessage of the Christmas story.The idea that God would come to be with us, not through the powers of the world but through ahumble dislocated couple living in an occupied land, tells us that God can be with us, even when weface insecurity in home and church, even when we can no longer count on society for job security,health coverage, or human rights, even when we face loneliness in the belly of an empire like theUnited States.Wherever we are on our journey, Christmas is the one joyous moment when we can give thanks forthe little baby, longed for by freed slaves, sought after by foreign dignitaries, crowned by a star in theeast.As we prepare to spread the good news that God is with us, let us remember those who need to hearit the most. I am reminded of a 6-year-old orphan in Russia, whose handmade nativity scene had notone, but two, babies in the manger. He explained:When Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place tostay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay. ThenJesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a gift to givehim like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what Ihad that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a goodgift.So I asked Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?” And Jesus told me,“If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.” So I got into themanger, and then Jesus looked at me and told me I could stay with him—for always.May we share Christ’s warmth with all of the world, knowing that God is indeed with us. Amen.Rev. Wendy S. TajimaSFTS Associate Dean of Enrollment
Northern California Campus105 <strong>Seminary</strong> Road<strong>San</strong> Anselmo, CA 94960