Big Book of Advent Devotionals – Year 2 Based on the Daily Lectionary of the Book of Common Worship Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s “Big Book of Advent Devotionals – Year 2” gives you a valuable resource for personal and corporate Spiritual formation during the Advent season. From Day 1 through Day 29 (Christmas), each section includes multiple biblical passages from the daily lectionary, reflections based on those passages, and accompanying prayers based on each reflection. Seminary alumnae/i, faculty, staff, Board members, and students since 2008 have contributed to this resource as a means of blessing you not only in this Advent season but also in those to come! Pittsburgh Theological Seminary www.pts.edu Page 1 Year 2, Day 1 A reading from page 141 of Reclaiming the Old Testament from the Christian Pulpit, by Don Gowan, faculty emeritus I’d like to tell you about the quietist Christmas I ever spent. Then I’ll explain why I’m telling you this. It was 1951, my first year out of college. I was working in Richland, WA, at one of the Atomic Energy Commission plants run by the General Electric Company. The plant and the town we lived in had been built by the army during the war and in 1951 the only housing available for single employees was in dormitories, so I lived in one room on the second floor in a dorm across the street from the plant where I worked. As Christmas approached some of my friends planned a trip into the mountains and asked if I would like to go along, but for some reason which I don’t remember I decided not to. Perhaps it was because I was in the choir at church and they were giving a concert on Christmas eve. At any rate I went to that midnight service and to refreshment for the choir afterwards, then back to my room to open the presents my folks had sent from Iowa. Next morning I got up late and walked down to a nearby restaurant for dinner, ate supper at the same place, and spent the rest of the day in my room. There was no one around the dorm, as most people who had anywhere at all to go had cleared out. By evening I realized that I had gone through an entire Christmas day without seeing one person that I knew. But it was not a bad Christmas. I remember doing two things: writing a letter home, and spending a lot of time thinking about what Christmas really meant to me. I didn’t know any theology then and not very much about the Bible, but I did know that a Christian is never really alone, anywhere or anytime, and I was fully convinced that day that a Christian especially cannot feel alone on Christmas day. Now, why tell you this story? To make you feel sorry for me? Not at all, for there was nothing to be sorry for. I tell it as a small illustration of what Matthew says is the meaning of Christmas: that with the coming of Jesus, God was with us, in human flesh. I consider this sentence to be the Bible’s best promise: God is with us. It is a promise which God has repeated consistently through the history of his dealings with humanity. God is with us. Prayer Amazing God, you have astounded the world once again by coming to us in the form of a human baby. Help us to comprehend the great love that you have for us that compelled you to enter our lives to be here among us. Let us live with bold joy and faith knowing that we are not alone. On this Christmas Day and every day, may we praise you without ceasing. Amen. Amos 1:1-5, 1:13-2:8 1:1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he said: The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds wither, and the top of Carmel dries up. 3 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate bars of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir, says the LORD. 13 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead in order to enlarge their territory. 14 So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah, fire that shall devour its strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the whirlwind; 15 then Pittsburgh Theological Seminary www.pts.edu Page 2 their king shall go into exile, he and his officials together, says the LORD. 2:1 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. 2 So I will send a fire on Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; 3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its officials with him, says the LORD. 4 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked. 5 So I will send a fire on Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem. 6 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed. Steve Tuell, faculty A masterful piece of street theater opens the book of Amos: imagine the crowds, cheering the prophet on as he condemns Israel’s enemies and competitors! But then, Amos turns his attention to Israel, unexpectedly identified as just like its neighbors, and condemned as are they for injustice, cruelty, and false worship. It is Israel that turns out to be the true target of Amos’ prophecy, and of the Lord’s wrath. If what we expect in this season of expectancy is the deliverance of those like us, and the expulsion of the outsiders, then this will be an empty season of smug self-congratulation. May the unexpected twist of Amos’ prophecy call us instead to a holy Advent of self-examination, and renew our commitment to justice for and the inclusion of those on the margins. Prayer O Lord, forgive our easy embrace of those like us, and our suspicion of the stranger. Empower us to participate in your ministry. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Luke 21:5-19 5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” 7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.” 9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name.