Advent Reflections: The Image of the Stump and Branch

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1

While many North American Christian churches don't make much out of images and pictures, the season of Advent is actually filled with them.  Sure, we get our share of words that don't really have any kind of picture with them (joy, peace, hope and the like), but we also get a good number of pictures like this one from Isaiah.  The stump of Jesse having a single shoot that will spring forth from it and bear fruit.

There are a number of things about this image worthy of our reflection. First, I simply want to encourage you to picture this in your mind.  Perhaps it evokes something from your past, where you have seen a stump of a tree with a branch growing up out of it. Picture it in your mind.  Think about what you are seeing there.

Perhaps in your image you see the stump. It's cut off, relatively close to the ground.  It could be newly cut down or perhaps is weathered and aged. Yet, no matter how you picture it, you cannot deny one thing: it has been cut down.  No longer is a living, vibrant tree found there.  The promise and hope of life is gone. All that is left is a sad reminder of what used to stand there, strong, tall and powerful.

Yet, even from this dead stump, there still exists the hope of life.  That's what the shoot indicates.  It is fresh.  Perhaps in your image you see newly formed leaves, budding with a vibrant green filled with life. Life emerges where death had been found. That life grows, reaching upward and becoming strong and vibrant, finally getting to the point where it bears fruit once again.

That is the image that God gave to His people through Isaiah. There are several interesting things with this reading, as well. First is the use of the name Jesse.  While the promise of an everlasting ruler had been given to David, here Isaiah mentions David's father as the stump.  It's a reminder that God isn't impressed with our greatness, but with humility.  Jesse pales in comparison to his son David, and yet, the stump bears Jesse's name.

Another thing is that this word spoken by Isaiah came while there was still a descendant of David sitting on the throne in Jerusalem.  Isaiah lived in the time to see the northern kingdom of Israel conquered and marched off into exile, but he was not around at the time when the Babylonian army conquered Judah and Jerusalem. Isaiah spoke God's Word, that the kingly line would be cut off, appearing dead.  Yet, even death would not deter God from fulfilling His promise.  A shoot would arise from that stump, and that shoot would grow to become a branch that would bear fruit.

As you reflect on this image, what do you find in your life that God may be saying needs to be cut off and die?  What new life is God working to raise up from the death of that?  As you reflect, may you also be reminded that God's Spirit is at work to bear that fruit in your life.

Advent Reflections: Peace

This time of year, the word peace makes its way around, especially in Christian circles.  We hear of Jesus being the promised "Prince of Peace", who came to bring "peace on earth, good will to men". In the hectic nature of this season, peace is also something that we find ourselves longing after.  With the pressures of gifts, of work, of family, and perhaps travel, we long for peace.  Even going to the store, hearing the ringing of the Salvation Army bells adding their trill to the cacophony of noise can make us long for peace and quiet.

Yet, do we truly know what we are asking for when we ask for peace?  Do we truly understand the peace that Jesus came to bring into this world?  I would dare say not.  On one occasion, Jesus made the statement, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." And that may strike us profoundly to hear Jesus, of all people, saying that. 

How would you define peace if you were asked?  Most of us might tend to lean toward the absence of conflict.  People are getting along.  When you hear people talk about peace on earth, that's usually what they mean.  The nations aren't actively seeking to hurt each other.  There aren't wars going on.  People are tolerating each other.  And we then bring that same meaning into what we believe Jesus came to bring.  An absence of conflict.  "We all just get along".

I would say that Jesus says that statement because that's not the kind of peace that He had come to bring.  Sure, the absence of conflict would be a mark of a perfect world, but then, Jesus didn't come and eradicate sin in this world.  He came to deal with its end result and repercussions.  He didn't come to remove conflict, but to deal with the thing that is at the heart of conflict.  He came to bring restoration to things to be the way that they were intended to be from the creation.  And the beginning point for that restoration would be to pay the price of guilt.

It sounds almost like a Christian cliche to say it, but Jesus came to make things right between the creation and God first and foremost, so that then, when the new creation comes into its being, we can be welcomed into it.  If things haven't been made right ahead of time, then the new creation would be empty and, therefore, pointless.  The peace Jesus came to bring is not merely the absence of conflict, but the removal of everything separating God from His creation.  It is much deeper and more profound than we could possibly imagine.

So as you reflect on peace this Advent season, I encourage you to consider obstacles that may be present in the relationships you share with others.  In the reflection of your Christian faith, how can you work to remove those obstacles and grow the peace that can more fully exist in those relationships?  That's the living out of this Christian peace in our lives here and now.

Advent Reflection: Joy

Over the past few days, the work joy has been on my mind considerably.  Part of this is the fact that I will be preaching in chapel this coming Wednesday and am choosing to focus on joy and rejoicing, two matters which show up in the assigned Bible readings for the day.  It also came up in the Bible study I attended this morning.  It's something that I am privileged to see quite often in the faces of my wife and children, and I hope they see if frequently on my face as well.

Joy is one of those words that is a bit challenging to define well.  It's not exactly happiness, since you can have joy even at times of sadness (think of the funeral where you know the deceased is with Lord and Savior, but is still missed). It's not a sense of well-being necessarily, since joy can be found even in pain and suffering.  You notice that I'm saying that joy isn't a lot of things.  Sometimes we have to define a word by emphasizing the things that it is not.

Joy is a sense that things are well and will turn out well.  For us, that means that joy is something that is ultimately out of our hands.  Our power and might will rarely be the thing that causes something to turn out well.  Sure, we might have an appropriate word to say at that given moment that improves the situation, but we also don't control how people receive that word. We might be able to do something that brings a bit of happiness into the situation, but that may not change the situation appreciably.

That's where I suggest that our Christian idea of joy actually hits the mark quite well.  Only God has shown the ability to work with all things, even to the point of utilizing sinful thoughts, words, and behaviors to further His purposes.  Only God can bring joy to the situation, which is why Paul's list of the fruit of the Spirit in his letter to the Galatians points us appropriately toward Him.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, and so on.

Joy lies in knowing and believing that God is the One working to bring all things to good.  Though the immediate circumstances may not be joyful or even good for our well-being, we find joy that God can and has overcome these in Christ Jesus.  His joy is in redeeming us, and because we are redeemed, we know we are safe in His hands.  That is what brings joy, even in sadness, even in distress.  That joy is something that truly is only a gift from God by His Spirit.

My prayer is that you see much joy this Advent season, but also in all seasons of your life.  Jesus is your Redeemer and has redeemed you through His blood.  Thanks be to God.

Reflections for Advent

At the congregation where my family and I worship, we have a regular booklet to guide our devotional thoughts during the week.  It's a great resource to have, especially as it keeps our thoughts in view of the message we hear at the assembly of the saints on Sunday.  We are encouraged daily with a Scripture reading, as well as guiding thought for the day.  And as is appropriate for Advent, quite often these reflections are on some promise that God makes to us.

Taking time to reflect on God's Word is not easy for us in the Western world.  We have been raised and taught that we are to be busy, active, and focused on all sorts of things.  When at work, we are taught to focus on our work.  We rarely take time to slow down, to stop, to think things through.  I remember hearing from a number of pastors over the years that many in the congregations they served would view their personal study time as something to be questioned.  Why?  Because the pastor wasn't "doing something".  His personal time of devotion and growing was seen as a waste because there was no activity to it.

It's difficult for us to slow down, to think, to reflect.  In fact, I would dare say that we are bad at it, and don't want to develop that discipline within ourselves.  Just imagine if you were sitting on your couch, or in your chair at work, quietly quoting a Psalm to yourself, letting the Spirit guide your thoughts, for about 4-5 minutes.  How focused on the Psalm would you be?  I would imagine that you would have all kinds of thoughts intrude and distract you from it.  On top of that, what if someone saw you doing this.  Would they think you were taking a nap?  Bored?  Needing more to do?

Quiet reflection time is precious.  If you ever get a chance to read all the way through Psalm 119 (all 176 verses), one theme you will see is that of reflecting and meditating on God's Word and Law. How do we do that, though?  What is gained by doing so?  Well, we do it by taking a verse or two, reading them (sometimes even multiple times), and then considering the areas of our lives where these speak. We let the Spirit guide us to see where we may be doing this, or to correct us when we aren't doing it well.  We may uncover sin issues that need to be confessed and dealt with.  And as a side benefit, we also start to develop discipline in our thinking, which benefits us outside of our reflection times.

For this Advent season, I simply want to encourage you to consider taking 2-5 minutes daily for a reflection on a Scripture reading of some sort.  Make it short, so you can remember it (or maybe even memorize it). Then let that Word work on you, your heart, your soul. If you find that you are not focused, take a deep breath and start again.  Don't be frustrated with yourself over your lack of ability, especially if you haven't developed this discipline before.  Start small, and work your way up.  Maybe start with two minutes, with the goal of four or five by the end of the season.  And let God's promise fill you as you reflect and develop this discipline.

It's Advent! Hurry up and Wait!

We have now entered the season of the Church year we call Advent.  This is part of the Christian tradition to which I belong.  It marks the beginning of the year for us faith-wise.  It's significant because it reminds us of the years/decades/centuries where God's people waited for God to send the promised Messiah.  So during this season, we hear the promises that God made, and we see how God patiently waited until the time was just right.

I don't know about you, but waiting isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do.  The thing is, I am actually a fairly patient person a good portion of the time.  However, it is far too often that I get impatient.  I want things done and don't want to have to wait until I have the time, or until others get the idea and do it.  My impatience drives my life far too often.

Yet, God waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Fulfillment of a promise rarely happens immediately.  If it did, there would be no need for the promise.  The reason we have to make a promise in the first place is because it's not happening right now, right away.  It will happen, but until it does, waiting is called for.  Patience is called for.

In some ways, our current society life reflects this.  It's the time when many are buying gifts, putting up trees, and wrapping up presents for the tree and the stockings.  Yet, we wait until the time to open them. If you have kids, you get to teach patience (and believe me, they don't want to wait!). Even for you, you might be driven to distraction by the unknown thing(s) sitting in a brightly wrapped package, just beckoning to you.  Yet, we wait.

The season of Advent is a season of waiting.  God's promise will be fulfilled, which began with the sending of His Son, who would be born of a human woman and become a human being. Even then, though, redemption would wait.  It would be thirty or so years before the action of redemption occurred.  Even then, waiting was called for, as the tomb and grave seemed too much to defeat.  But the promise was fulfilled as the giver of life came back to life, to give new life to all who believe it was done for them.

So wait.  Take a few deep breaths when you find yourself impatient.  Relax, close your eyes, count slowly to ten, and then remember.  Waiting is a challenge, but God is growing you in that challenge.