First Tuesday of Advent
Scripture Reading for Today:
Genesis 9:1-17
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. 6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Psalm 124
A song of ascents. Of David.1 If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say— 2 if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, 3 they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; 4 the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, 5 the raging waters would have swept us away. 6 Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. 7 We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Hebrews 11:32-40
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
The Mysterious Blessings of Remembrance and Nostalgia
by Chantal Huinink
Chantal Huinink is a motivational speaker, author and social justice advocate who serves as the Coordinator of Organizational and Spiritual Life for Christian Horizons and recently founded Faith and Wheelpower Ministries. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Guelph and her Masters of Divinity and Social Work from Martin Luther University College. Chantal is a Christian Reformed Chaplain and a Waterloo Regional Counsellor. Her education and experience as a woman with a physical disability has made her keenly aware of the need for holistic care including consideration of physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs.
This week marks the start of the Advent season, to which I say, “Bring on the Christmas carols, cards, and gifts; twinkle lights, sugar cookies, and peppermint hot chocolate; put on your fuzzy pyjamas; play festive movies; and put up your Christmas tree with me!” To some, this might not seem like a sincere, faithful response anticipating Christ’s birth. However, these rituals prepare my house and my heart to celebrate the coming of Jesus our Messiah.
Advent is a mysterious season of waiting. The first Advent consisted of hundreds of years of anticipating the coming Messiah. God’s people were not comfortable; they waited for a Saviour to rescue them, perhaps even bringing peace by the sword. Instead, peace, hope, joy, and love arrived in the form of a baby born in a manger. Now we wait for that same Saviour, Jesus Christ, to return in all His glory and splendor, so that peace, hope, joy, and love can be fully realized. The earth and all of God’s people will be restored to the flourishing that God intended for us–no more death, mourning, crying or pain! (see Revelation 21:4).
I’m grateful for the comforts of life that I have been blessed with so far. If you are comfortable in your current circumstances, consider giving thanks to God for them now. If you are in the midst of discomfort or distress, consider saying a prayer about what you are waiting for Jesus to do on behalf of you or someone you love now.
It is a mystery to me that no matter how positive the current year may or may not seem, for me the season of Advent is filled with the warmest of memories and feelings of nostalgia for Christmases past, rather than Christmas present. Each time I dig out, unwrap, and rearrange past Christmas decorations, I am filled with great joy. I experience the blessings of my current moment and the promise that new Christmas ornaments will be enfolded into the warm and nostalgic memories of the future. There is also promise in the upcoming fresh start of the new year.
Each of our Scripture readings for today contain both a call to remembrance and promise fulfilment.
God’s covenant with Noah reminds us that every living thing is valuable to God, especially human beings such as you and me. This passage holds the mysterious and majestic rainbow, which symbolizes the promise for God to remember God’s covenant and never again flood the whole earth.
Psalm 24 serves as a reminder of the many ways that God has rescued faithful people in the past. It contains the promise that we need not face adversity on our own: the Lord is with us.
Likewise, Hebrews 11 reminds us of the miraculous achievements and faithfulness of the prophets and Christ-followers. They endured hardships like yours and mine or worse. They lived in view of the promise of something better, which we too eagerly anticipate.
Remembering can be hard for people whose past experiences were painful or whose memories are no longer intact. If remembering is hard for you or for someone you love, scriptural reminders of God’s past faithfulness and future promises may be especially helpful. If you have ever felt bad that you cannot remember well, consider that even God uses rainbows as a reminder! When a rainbow appears, “I [God] will remember my covenant” to never again flood the whole earth (Gen. 9:15, NIV). From time to time, we all benefit from reminders of God’s goodness.
Those of us who have participated in advent rituals for many years may be tempted to write them off as repetitive or redundant. However, frequent reminders of God’s promises to us also help us to celebrate God’s faithfulness in the past. These promises encourage us to entrust our future to God with confidence that God has been, is now, and will continue to be faithful to us. Similarly, reminders of the promises that we have made to God and/or to one another help us to be faithful as well.
If you can celebrate the blessings of peace, hope, joy and love this season, thanks be to God! If these blessings still seem mysterious or elusive to you, you are not alone. The Saviour of the world was born into a time and place where people experienced limited peace, joy, hope and love because of oppression at the hands of the Roman rulers. Sadly, oppression and other hardships are still the reality for many. This is precisely why Jesus came. It is also why Jesus is still with us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I take immense joy in Christmas rituals throughout the season of Advent, in part because I have physical limitations that mean activities like decorating my house and putting up the Christmas lights are always and necessarily communal. They are tangible reminders that I am not alone. Throughout this Advent season and beyond, remember that you are not alone either. No one is. Over 2000 years ago, Emmanuel (“God with us”) appeared as a helpless infant. He brought a small but powerful light to a dark world and promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us (see Matthew 28:20).
Jesus brought with Him the promise of everlasting peace, everlasting hope, everlasting joy, and everlasting love. The challenge of living in this time is that these promises have not yet been fully realized. On the glorious day that Christ returns, they will be. Meanwhile, let us remember Mary’s response to the challenging circumstances and adversity she faced, “let it be as you say,” (see Luke 1:38). Whenever we face challenges or adversity, let us take a page out of Mary’s script and respond in the same way. Let us have the confidence that God will provide everything we need, helping us to remember and remain faithful to the promises that He invited us into..
Prayer: Dear Lord,
Thank you for ongoing reminders of your faithfulness, and especially for the promise of everlasting peace, hope, joy, and love. As I wait for your promise to be realized in all its glory and splendor, may I remember to be faithful to the promises that I have made, serving as a conduit of Your peace, hope, joy, and love everywhere I go. Amen.
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