Month: December 2016

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Our Hero is here!

Our Hero is the Joy in Advent.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

My grandniece is obsessed with the movie Frozen. Her room is a purple palace tribute to the movie. So when her local supermarket had a Frozen event and her heroes Elsa and Anna would be there, her mom dressed her in her favorite Elsa hoodie and off they went to meet the “real” princess sisters! She was overjoyed at meeting her heroes, and a little awestruck.  In childhood, those memories seem to have a glow of light and joy around them, like the photo. In the baby Jesus we’ve met our hero and joy fills our hearts. We are a little awestruck.

That’s how the angels felt as they sang “Glory to God in the Highest!” That’s how the shepherds felt when they bowed to the baby Jesus. And how the Magi felt when they brought their gifts. They met the baby called Jesus who would grow up to be The Hero in the flesh, the Savior of their present lives and the King of the future. Light and awe filled their life!

Now we worship this baby, Jesus our Hero. And we are awestruck with joy by His majesty, mercy and immeasurable love toward us. He left his heavenly throne to be one of us, a man yet still God, to break the barrier of sin and restore us to Him so we could live with Him forever. No greater Hero ever lived, and joy and light is ours always. We have it now, no matter what this life brings. We have it forever in our next life with our Lord and Savior.

“Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done this wondrous thing.
    Shout for joy, O depths of the earth!
Break into song,
    O mountains and forests and every tree!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
    and is glorified in Israel.”
Isaiah 44:23 New Living Translation

“I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me.”
Psalm 71:23 New Living Translation

Copyright text Desiree Bustamante
Copyright photo Kimberly Bryson

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

“I’m Dreaming of a ______________ Christmas”

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Jesus gifts us with joy no matter our Christmas expectations.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“And the angel said to them,
‘Fear not, for behold,
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'”
Luke 2:10 English Standard Version

T’is the season for expectations.

We might expect a white Christmas, a peaceful Christmas, or a joy-filled Christmas. It’s hard to enter this time of year without expectations.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Some of our expectations might be positive while others might be negative. Our expectations might be based on what we hope to happen or on what has actually taken place in the past. We might anticipate being let down once again this Christmas because of the past, or we might expect great things because of promises made.

We will realize some of our expectations while others may not come to pass. The snow might be absent, yet the Christmas gathering of family and friends will be a happy occasion.

Whether our expectations are met or not, our joy at Christmas is always the same. Our joy is in the reality that our God entered human history in human flesh, a baby born that we might live. This baby is born that we might experience peace that the world cannot give us. This baby is born to promise us forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption. This baby is our life.

We might or might not be happy after the decorations are removed, yet the joy of the angel’s words will ring in our ears from that night of our Savior’s birth, a joy that is for everyone, a joy that is meant for you and me. This joy is rooted in the baby and the grace that comes from his cross and empty tomb.

No matter what happens, you can be sure of the gift of joy that comes from hearing the story of our Lord’s nativity.

Picture and text copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Ode to Joy

An Advent Lesson

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
John 1:14, New International Version

Jesus, Word of God Incarnate, is God’s ultimate word to humankind; God’s word of redemption and reconciliation; God’s Word of joy.  On the night of his betrayal, Jesus spoke to comfort the disciples, to fill them with joy.

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete,”
John 15:11, New International Version

The disciples were likely among the most joyless individuals on the planet that night.  Jesus, in fact, could trump their cheerless outlook.  He was facing betrayal, torture and death.

Instead, Jesus spoke of joy.

God’s Word in Christ was working to create hope, to give joy on that dark night.  As surely as God’s Word spoke out over the face of the waters and brought creation into being, God in Christ was speaking a new creation into being in the midst of the old.  His Kingdom was coming in power, though to human eyes it looked weak indeed, hanging as it soon would be, upon a cross.  Jesus is God’s word of life to the world.  This life claimed life from death in the resurrection.  Here is God’s Ode to Joy; here is Jesus, the path of life, the road to joy for us today.

It is important to see and hear Jesus on the night of his betrayal even in the midst of Advent.  Facing the reality of his own death, he spoke of joy—his own joy and his desire to impart that joy to us.  We experience betrayal, disappointment, loneliness and death.  But we know God’s greater Word of hope, life and joy in Jesus.  God knows us with a greater Word of joy that can conquer any grim experience in our lives.  We can be a people of joy in the midst of difficulty.  Jesus thought of our joy when he was in his darkest moments, so that our dark moments might be brightened by faith in Christ who is always Coming to us with Joy.

Text and picture, copyright Don Schatz