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Looking for Jesus 2019 Advent Devotional Peachtree Road UMC Hope

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Looking for Jesus 2019 Advent Devotional Peachtree Road UMC Hope Looking for Jesus 2019 Advent Devotional Peachtree Road UMC Hope DECEMBER 1 Bill Britt Isaiah 40:31 Looking for Jesus But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Our Advent series this year is Looking for Jesus. In this devotional we have used images from different Today we begin the busy holiday season. You already know it will be filled with special worship services at the countries around the world to capture the need that church, parties with friends and folks with whom you work, and family celebrations here in Atlanta or far away. is common among us all—the hope that is offered to This also can be a time of great stress as folks tend to work extra hours, burn the candle at both ends, and drive each of us no matter where in the world we are. themselves harder than ever before to end the year well. Your church understands that and has prepared this devotional guide to help you celebrate the season and sense the presence of God in your midst. People everywhere around the world are searching. They are looking for that which will fill their innermost Most of you are familiar with the hopeful passage cited above from Isaiah 40. It is a favorite of mine with its need. Sometimes, mistakenly, they think what they imagery of soaring through life like an eagle. You also may know that some versions of the Bible translate the are looking for can be found in fame, wealth, or word “hope” in this passage as “wait.” It is interesting to think about hoping and waiting as two sides of the other things, so they will spend their lives going after same coin. these. Yet when they achieve them, they realize their innermost need is still not met. They are still empty. I know. On the one hand waiting sounds like sitting around and twiddling your thumbs as you wait for something They are still longing and yearning to be filled. What to happen. However, think of it this way—a waiter is someone who waits on you. That person serves you while every one of us is looking for, what can only fill our you are in the restaurant. They’re not over in the corner passing the time away until the restaurant closes and innermost need, is Jesus. Nothing else, no one else. they get paid. They are busy—waiting. In a similar way, the Advent season calls us to wait for Christ to return That is why, throughout the ages, different people and to do it hope-full-y. Start by emptying your life of some things. When your life is full, there is no room for across the world have been looking for Jesus. Christ. So, maybe you could empty your calendar and free up some time. Empty your closet and your pantry, and give some things to people who need them more. And while you’re letting go of some things, take on some My prayer for you is that wherever you are in the other things. Help somebody. world when you read this devotional, you will find what you have been truly looking for—Jesus. Recently I saw a news story about a lady who lives in New York. She has cancer and has been informed that the treatments will not prolong her life. She is receiving hospice care at home and will not make it to Christmas. According to the reporter, Christmas is her favorite time of the year, and her neighbors are trying to help her experience it. One came over and decorated her house. Another did her shopping for her. Still others went to the mountains and brought back truckloads of snow for the front yard. The television showed a smiling woman on the porch with her neighbors singing carols to her. It certainly looked like Christmas. It looked to me like Christ was present. It looked like those people were waiting! It looked like hope! I love our Advent traditions. Tonight the children will sing their carols and lead us as we light the great tree in the sanctuary. Each Sunday we tell more of the story of the approach of Christ, and then, on Christmas Eve, we light candles in a dark sanctuary and proclaim: “Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome Eiffel Tower | Paris, France it.” Our traditions are not celebrations of the past—they are signs of hope. Don’t let anybody or anything take your hope away from you! 1 2 DECEMBER 2 DECEMBER 3 Beth Chandler Lesley Cogburn Jeremiah 17:7-8 Romans 8:24-25 But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. While it is ideally a time to reflectively prepare, the Advent season is more realistically a time of overwhelming pressure and hectic days. There are end of the year deadlines, tested family My father, Aulbert Brannen, was a simple farmer who truly taught me to trust relationships, loneliness if a loved one is absent, and the financial burdens of holiday spending. in the Lord and the value of hope (and hard work). Our family prayed for rain We find ourselves thinking too often—“I hope I can get through this,” “I hope I can get this all most every day as the heat of the south Georgia summer came upon us, and done,” or “I hope everything turns out OK.” The feelings brought on by these hopes are stress, this scripture from Jeremiah has always reminded me of my Dad’s tremendous skepticism, fear, and most of all a lack of control. faith and the life brought to our humanity by water—especially when the heat appears. He truly celebrated the rain over the summer months—even Let’s face it, we start many phrases with “I hope” all throughout the year when it comes to our running out to dance in it—singing “Praise the Lord.” It brought him hope for children, our budgets, our significant relationships, and simply our peace of mind. All these the bounty of the land that he so dearly loved in Bulloch County. things we can see—they are present in our life—and their presence can make us feel hopeless. Paul reminds us that Christian Hope—the hope the Love of God gives us—is a hope of promise As our family suffered our own “heat” through my Mom’s cancer and and patience. It is not the beginning of a plan that WE will put into action to solve our present treatment and my Dad’s later cancer and death, he modeled hope and his concerns or ambitions. It is the FAITH that God will provide even when it is unseen. So the next strong faith for us. He did not fear. He comforted us by repeating one of his time you are “hoping” for something, try changing those words to “I will pray for” or “I will turn to favorite hymns— Great is Thy Faithfulness: God’s word” trusting that He already knows and has already provided. Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Scripture reveals to us principles that we can start with and come back to when our life feels off Morning by morning new mercies I see, track. Our hopes are many and our expectations are high. What is the most reliable GPS? The All I have needed thy hand hath provided, Bible. It has stood the test of time, does not change, and has never lost signal. Scripture keeps us Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me! living purposefully and Scripture will always give us HOPE. He told us through lots of pain at the end of his suffering that he wanted to This season of Advent, COMMIT to the study of Scripture. Below are some of the Scriptures I “get on his yellow airplane and fly up to see the Lord.” We puzzled over this have learned to turn to when I am feeling myself veer off track: yellow airplane reference, but he was too sick to explain it at that point in his For those “what if” moments: For those struggles in our relationships: final journey. That was a year of drought for us, yet he’d planted us by the 2 Timothy 1:7 Romans 5:5 waters to spread our roots with his tremendous faith. As we spread his ashes Luke 12:31 2 Samuel 22:29 on his beloved farmland on a beautiful spring day, we were all stunned when Proverbs 3:5-6 Isaiah 59:1 a yellow airplane literally flew fifty feet over our heads...confirming to us the Jeremiah 29:11 Romans 8:31 hope and trust from our faithful Dad and the gift of Jesus from our Father in Heaven. This local crop duster unknowingly provided the “water” we needed For those “if only” moments: For those worries for our children: that grieving morning.
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