Salvation: Advent Daybook 21
Take a few deep breaths, settle your body, mind, and heart into a quiet space, and let’s begin with prayer.
Pray: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus as I sit in your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions with your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Look: Joseph, Husband of Mary, Riki Yarbrough - Source
“Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife." (Matt. 1:20-21)
Listen: Joy to the World, Eef Barzelay - Spotify | YouTube
Don’t let the unusual cover art keep you from listening to this song. Brian and I consider this our Advent version of Joy to the World and listen to it all year long.
Read: Psalm 55; Psalm 138, 139:1-17; Isaiah 10:20-27; Jude 17-25; Luke 3:1-9
Excerpts:
“Give ear to my prayer, O God; do not hide yourself from my supplication. Attend to me and answer me; I am troubled in my complaint. I am distraught by the noise of the enemy, because of the clamor of the wicked. For they bring trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
But I call upon God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he will hear my voice.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
*
“On the day I called, you answered me; you increased my strength of soul.
All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth. They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he perceives from far away.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.”
*
“For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”
*
“On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on the one who struck them but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.” The Lord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.”
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“But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
*
”’…and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
Psalm 55:1-2, 16-17, 22 * Psalm 138:3-6, 8 * Psalm 139:13-17 * Isaiah 10:20-21, 24-27 * Jude 20-25 * Luke 3:6
Pray & Do: Selah pause
On Saturdays during Advent, we'll spend about 15 minutes practicing a devotional exercise known as an examen. The Examen is a spiritual discipline of prayer first modeled by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The prayer practice has remained a dynamic, deeply-meaningful way to develop our capacity to hear God and our hearts.
Start with silence. Take some time to be silent, without any noise or distraction, to pause and calmly think about the first few days of Lent. I’ve come to call this time a selah pause.
The Hebrew word selah (see-lah) is repeated throughout the Psalms. The definition of this word is probably a musical reference, calling for a break in the singing of the Psalm. The Amplified Bible (AMP) adds the explanatory phrase "pause, and calmly think of that!" each time the word selah shows up in the Psalms.
There’s no need to strive for profound insight during this time. Just be still. If you begin to sense thoughts or feelings bubbling up in the quiet, notice them without trying to analyze them. You might breathe a simple prayer each time you're tempted to become distracted. For example, when you feel distracted or anxious breathe in “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God” and exhale “have mercy on me the sinner.” Another option is to echo the psalmist: "Selah, pause and calmly think of that.”
After about 5 minutes of silence, pray through the questions listed here:
Ask God for light. I want to look at my week with God’s eyes, not merely my own.
Give thanks. The week I’ve just lived is a gift from God. I give thanks.
Review the week. I calmly think back on the week just completed, trusting the Holy Spirit to help me recall whatever’s helpful. I notice the places I felt most connected to the love of God and others.
Notice places you distanced yourself from God. I acknowledge what I’ve done or left undone that made it difficult for me to connect with the love of God and others. I pay special attention to areas I notice unresolved grief.
Look forward to the week to come. I ask God where I need help and a greater connection with love for the coming week. I ask for the grace to honestly bring my complaint, petition, and resolve to stay present to God in lament this Lent.
Trust God as your Heavenly Father to be present with you through Christ and by his Spirit. End your time with a simple prayer or chorus. Go about your day and into the weekend with peace.
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*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1).