Leaning Forward: Advent Reflections for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Arkansas We invite you to join us for the next twenty-seven days on a devotional journey through this season of Advent. On the following pages you will find devotional reflections from brothers and sisters across the Arkansas fellowship. The diverse authors of these reflections will challenge us to lean forward this Advent season. We hope you will join us in leaning forward through prayer, reflection, and in the hope of what is to come in Christ. “It is Advent: the time just before the adventure begins, when everybody is leaning forward to hear what will happen even though they already know what will happen and what will not happen, when they listen hard for meaning, their meaning, and begin to hear, only faintly at first, the beating of unseen wings.” (Frederick Buechner) Please take some time each day to read the passages, consider the reflections and questions, and use the guide in your prayers. We are excited to see how the Spirit will lead our CBF of Arkansas community through this devotional guide. Feel free to share this collection with friends and family; we encourage you to forward the PDF file to friends and family, make copies to share with those in your church, or follow the devotional online (website: www.cbfar.org/advent-devotional or Facebook: www.facebook.com/cbfofarkansas). You have an incredible opportunity to journey through this Advent season together with other CBF Arkansans. From Lake Village to Fayetteville, from Jonesboro to Hot Springs, and from Virginia to Slovakia our CBF of Arkansas community is well represented in this devotional. Let the adventure begin! Leaning forward with you, Megan J. Pike, CBFAR Assistant Coordinator *Thank you to Calvary Baptist Church of Waco, Texas and Mary Alice Birdwhistell, Associate Pastor, for their resources to help make this devotional guide a reality for CBF of Arkansas. November 29, Sunday Isaiah 60:19-22 Waiting and Longing As a child, the time leading up to certain significant Isaiah 60:19-22 (NRSV) events seemed to take so long. Christmas took The sun shall no longer be forever to get here, the anticipation of birthdays and your light by day, their celebrations took an eternity, and it felt like the nor for brightness shall the moon school year would never end. Today, as an adult, I give light to you by night; find myself longing for those days when life seemed but the Lord will be your everlasting light, more leisurely and significant events took longer to and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, arrive. The anticipation was exciting, thrilling, or your moon withdraw itself; exhilarating! for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be Yet today, there are other things that take too long. ended. In a country ranked among the richest in the world, Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever. yet 46 million of our people live in poverty and over They are the shoot that I planted, the work 20% of our children under 18 go to bed hungry, of my hands, How long, o Lord, shall we wait? so that I might be glorified. The least of them shall become a clan, With 400,000 children in the USA in foster care, and the smallest one a mighty nation; separated from parents and families in crisis, I am the Lord; in its time I will accomplish it quickly. How long, o Lord, shall we wait? With over 2 million adults incarcerated and the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, How long, o Lord, shall we wait? With the increased bloodshed of our youth across all races and ethnic groups, How long, o Lord, shall we wait? With the alarming statistics of domestic violence against women and children ever increasing, How long, o Lord, shall we wait? As the children of Israel waited and longed for deliverance from the oppressors thousands of years ago, we too wait and long. We rest, however, in the assurance that these days of mourning will come to an end. The Lord our God is our everlasting light and will bring it all to pass at the right time. Reflection What are you doing to help God end the days of mourning while waiting and longing for the promised age of peace and joy? Prayer O Lord, we confess our anguish in the midst of so much human frailty and suffering. Yet, we hold fast to your promise while we wait and long for a time when this will all come to pass in your time. As we wait and long, may we as children of God reflect your love in the midst of oppression. Amen. By Patricia L. Griffen, CBFAR Moderator-Elect New Millennium Church, Little Rock November 30, Monday Romans 13:11-14 I’m finishing this devotional for Advent 2015 and the first statement in this passage is: “you know Romans 13:11-14 (NRSV) what time it is.” Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now Yes, I do. It’s Halloween/Daylight Savings Time than when we became believers; the night Saturday. I’m heading to the Razorback football is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay game in about an hour. The leaves are turning aside the works of darkness and put on the colors. The temperature is getting cooler, and the armor of light; let us live honorably as in days are getting shorter. the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not But that’s not the kind of time Paul is thinking in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no about. He’s writing about salvation time. “For provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers.” I thought my salvation was as close as it gets when I accepted Jesus on an April Tuesday night in our living room when I was 13 years old. According to Paul that’s only part of it. There’s a moment in the past, but there’s also a time in the future. It’s that time in the future when Jesus returns and God totally redeems, reconciles, and restores God’s creation and creatures. Paul says, wake up and notice what time it is. And, then, he says, it is time to behave like you know what time it is. So, in the first thirteen verses of Romans 13, Paul tells Christians to 1) be respectful and responsible citizens of your government, and 2) be loving toward your neighbors. Then in verses 12-14, Paul describes negative/unhealthy and positive/healthy attitudes and behaviors. He sums it up with the phrase: “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Advent is a good time to pay attention to God’s time and to the way we live and act as followers of Jesus. Reflection Can other people tell what time it really is by watching my attitudes, behavior and lifestyle? Prayer Saving God, Help me pay attention to your timing and the lifestyle that’s pleasing to you. I pray in the name of the Jesus of Advent and the Parousia, Amen. By Ray Higgins, CBFAR Coordinator Second Baptist Church, Little Rock December 1, Tuesday 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 On December 25th, 1914, at various points along the Western Front, troops from all over the world exited their trenches and exchanged greetings, gifts, and even played a few soccer matches. The Great War was only four months old, but already thousands had died on the front lines and millions more would die 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 (NRSV) before the war ended in 1918. Despite the death Grace to you and peace from God our Father and destruction in combat, the hope of Christmas and the Lord Jesus Christ. was greater than the threat of dying in no man’s I give thanks to my God always for you land. In the midst of terror, hope in the fellowship because of the grace of God that has been of Christ allowed men to overcome months of given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way killing and find the grace of God in the midst of you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the terrible conditions. Throughout history terrible testimony of Christ has been strengthened things have happened: war, genocide, death, among you— so that you are not lacking in disease, famine, and suffering. But there always any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing remains a thread of hope, a ‘beating of unseen of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also wings,’ somewhere in the midst of despair. It can strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus come from something as simple as a game of Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called soccer between a group of German and British into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ soldiers, or the exchange of pictures and stories our Lord. from life at home. But it is always there. In looking for these moments of hope, we can find strength and beauty in fellowship. The Christmas Armistice of 1914 only happened once; every other year war overwhelmed thoughts of peace.