December 4, 2020--power of the WORD

 

Advent Devotion Friday of Week One

James 1:22-27

I have to say, it is an odd experience to have a post on Facebook start my day off.  I had “quit” looking at Facebook because of all the negativity and bullying.  Today, the son of my first cousin posted his reflection on Eric Church’s song “If I Could Only Kill a Word.”  I am not a country music fan, so had never heard this son.  But I listened, and wow! Words are powerful, for good and evil.  As a faithful Christian, it was THE WORD that people wanted silenced, the word that breathed life and in all things were created, redeemed and continues to live today.  However, THE WORD would not let death have the last word.

But there are also words that are very hurtful, and some of us have just accepted them as social norms.  The fighting with each other about politics and name calling, racial and ethnic slurs we think are “funny,” lots of words we say later we didn’t really mean.  And yet words cannot be taken back, you cannot reel them back in, they can’t be unheard after hearing any more than unsaid after saying. 

Read these words by Eric Church--

If I could kill a word and watch it die
I'd poison "never," shoot goodbye
Beat "regret" when I felt I had the nerve
Yeah, I'd pound "fear" to a pile of sand
Choke "lonely" out with my bare hands
I'd hang "hate" so that it can't be heard
If I could only kill a word

I'd take "brokeness" out back
And break "heartbreak," stand there and laugh
Right in its face while shootin' it the bird
I'd put "upset" down in its place
I'd squeeze the life out of "disgrace"
Lay "over" under six cold feet of dirt
If I could only kill a word

Give me sticks and give me stones
Bend my body, break my bones
Use stab and rod to turn me black and blue
Cause you can't unhear, you can't unsay
But if were up to me to change
I'd turn "lies" and "hate" to "love" and "truth"
If I could only kill a word

I'd knock out "temptation"'s teeth
I'd sever "evil," let it bleed
Light light up "wicked," stand and watch it burn
I'd take "vice" and I'd take "vile"
Tie 'em up there with "hostile"
Hang 'em high and leave 'em for the birds
If I could only kill a word

So give me sticks, give stones
Bend my body, break my bones
Use staff and rod to turn me black and blue
Cause you can't unhear, you can't unsay
But if were up to me to change
I'd turn "lies" and "hate" to "love" and "truth"
If I could only kill a word
If I could only kill a word

 

These are the words that really hit me:  But if were up to me to change; I'd turn "lies" and "hate" to "love" and "truth."

It is up to me to change, to repent, turn around, reevaluate!  It is up to us to live as examples of the life giving Word of love and truth. 

I know it is Advent and Lent is usually the time we talk about repentance.  As we wait this season in anticipatory longing, we remember that it is in love for us that God sent the Word into the world, that the Word became incarnate.  It is only through the power of this Word Jesus that the world will change. 

December 2, 2020--do not be weighed down

 Wednesday of the First Week in Advent

Luke 21:34-38

34 ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

37 Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. ³⁸And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple. 

 

 

 

Since Sunday, every time I read scripture I get that message—keep awake.  Today it is in the words “be alert.”  There must be something here we are intended to grasp in our faith journey.

Before vacation, I noticed my mind slipping a bit, I felt overwhelmed with some decisions and the weight of burdens that we were all carrying.  Every time I got something done, it was like I didn’t even breathe and was off to the next thing.  Right or wrong, I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and I was definitely not alert.  I am sure I missed things around me.

Our reading begins –be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down, so that day does not catch you unexpectedly.  I realize that sometimes I am just too busy to notice how God is present in the every day tasks of life, even in those occasions where I am grieved and burdened. 

Advent gives us that chance in the anticipation of waiting to see God in unexpected ways, even through the things that weigh us down.  I do believe that this time of pandemic will change us, and some of it might be for the better.  If we allow ourselves during this time to prioritize our lives, to let go of some of the things that really don’t matter, I think we might find that we are more alert to the action and presence of God in every day life.