Advent Devotions

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Devotional “A Weary World Rejoices!” 

This year our hopes for healing from epidemics, for relief from practices that harm our environment, for recovered common civility in society bent on polarization have not been realized. While we do not despair, we grow weary while waiting. 

The aim of this devotional is to renew our perspective that Jesus has come to Bethlehem, is coming to renew all things and is present through the Holy Spirit active within the Christian community and among all creation. 

We as members of the Fresno Pacific University and Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary community pray that you will experience God’s peace afresh during Advent 2023. 

Merry Christmas! 

Thanks to Lynn Jost, Ph.D., professor of preaching and Old Testament and director of the Center of Anabaptist Studies at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, for his work as editor of the 2023 Advent devotional. 

“You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

I Corinthians 1:7

Read 1 Corinthians 1:6-9 

“What’s happening?” I fretted as the line of people inching up Moro Rock came to a stop. It was a beautiful July day in Sequoia National Park, but I was impatiently waiting for my turn to take pictures at the point of the rock overlooking a breath-taking panoramic view of the Sierra Nevada. 

Advent is a time of waiting. The hymn “O Holy Night” uses the word “pining.” Our lectionary passages use the word “wait:” “God…works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4), “Wait for the revealing of our Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:7). 

We wait for many things—at the line in the grocery store, for a bus, in traffic or in a theater for a movie to start. Many of us have found ways to occupy ourselves during that waiting—scrolling through our phones, reading or listening to music. But what do we do while waiting for God? 

Jesus says, “Keep alert, be on the watch, keep awake” (Mark 13:33-35). Jesus calls us neither to fret nor to lull ourselves into complacency, but to watch, to be ready to respond when we see his coming, God acting. 

Back on Moro Rock, I realized that instead of fretting, I could enjoy being on top of the world in no hurry. I watched a wildflower growing in a crack. I watched the mountains display the glory of God. I watched my children enjoy the view and make conversations. And too soon, my turn came to take pictures and move on. 

Lord, even as we wait and hope for your coming in our lives, we are grateful that you work to give us the spiritual gifts of hope, patience, love and joy. 

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” 

Isaiah 9: 6-7 

Read Isaiah 9:2-7 

In Advent we participate in the expectancy of the Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9 is a prophecy for the people of God while their nation was threatened by Assyria. 

The Israelites anticipated a human king who would rule on David’s throne and defend them from enemies. Jesus later would fulfill this passage, though not with military might or winner-take-all politics. Jesus came to this world as a vulnerable child to a young virgin mother, quite contrary to the hopes of his contemporaries for a messiah to forcefully free them from Roman occupation. 

Following Advent, we enter yet another election year in our increasingly polarized country. As Christians, we should not feel secure because “our” candidate is polling well or dismayed because they’re not. As we participate in the politics of this world, let us not place our hopes in the rulers of this world, but instead in Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor. 

Amidst the ads, misinformation and awkward family holiday conversations, may we remember that in Christ’s Kingdom there will be no end to his government and peace. May we humbly admit our own blind spots, placing our hope in the Prince of Peace. 

Keep our eyes on the manger and not on the polls. May our hope be placed in the Prince of Peace. 

“The lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation.” 

Micah 4:7 

Read Micah 4:6-8 

When have you felt left out, cast off, lame or shamed? Are you weary of appearing lame (or just plain) on social media? Are you weary of failing to be “in,” not making the varsity team, or not having standing at work or status in social circles? Rejoice! God flips the societal measuring stick and its values, gathering up the cast-off nobodies to make them a “strong nation.” This passage points to a radically encouraging reality: we can let go of grasping for status in the world and rest in the status we have in God’s upside-down Kingdom. 

Micah encourages, but also challenges. Which measuring stick do we use, society’s or God’s? In her book Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits are Hurting the Church, Katelyn Beaty states that the problem is not just celebrities themselves, but also how other Christians enable and foster celebrities. The American church has overall mimicked celebrity culture rather than challenge it. 

Beaty likens the allure of celebrity to the allure of the ring in Lord of the Rings. It is not a spiritually neutral tool. She observes that Jesus refused to do good things in the wrong way. Beaty advocates for a return to the small, the quiet, the uncool, the ordinary. Beaty’s challenge sounds similar to God’s focus in Micah. What are ways you feel a pull to the opposite? How might you choose intimacy over fandom and prioritize flesh-and-blood relationships over mediated ones? 

God, thank you that the weary parts of our being that feel lame and cast off can rest in your love. During this Advent may we reflect on how Jesus’ humble birth challenges societal fascination with and trust in celebrities. 

“He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.” 

Micah 5:4

Read Micah 5:1-5a 

Last summer, I accompanied a group of Fresno Pacific University students on a study abroad trip to Turkey and Greece. Being in a different country helped me to appreciate the diverse ways that national identity and pride can be expressed. I must have seen the Turkish flag on every street corner I passed! 

While being proud of our roots is not necessarily a bad thing, for Christians, our ultimate allegiance and identity is founded elsewhere. Today’s text from Micah 5 celebrates rooting identity and finding strength in God alone. 

Micah 5:1-5a describes the coming of a great ruler who will lead “in the majesty of the name of the Lord.” The Hebrew word translated “majesty” (ga’on) is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe nationalistic arrogance, especially among Israel’s enemies such as Babylon (Isaiah 13:19), Egypt (Ezekiel 16:49), Philistia (Zechariah 9:6) and Assyria (Zechariah 10:11). Instead of asserting political arrogance, though, the leader Micah envisions will defer to God’s majesty and strength. 

Today, our nations, our churches, our community organizations and even our families can encourage us to be prideful about our association with these groups. Yet, as the leader in Micah 5 demonstrates, ultimate majesty is only God’s. We can rejoice the most by aligning ourselves with the divine. This Advent season, may we pay attention to the ways in which we take pride in God’s majesty, not in the other groups that might vie for our loyalty. 

God of Majesty, we recognize your sovereignty over all things. Help us not to boast in false authorities but to rely on your power as our strength.