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Psalm 90:1-4

07 Jun

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!

Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.

You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals!”

For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,as brief as a few night hours.
Psalm 90:1-4

Dear God, I love just verse 1 of this psalm by Moses: “Lord, through all the generations you have been [my] home.” What a lovely thought.

For the last couple of nights I have spent the night in my parents’ home. They have only lived here seven years so it is not the home of my childhood or anything. In fact, there is really not much even in their furniture or decorations that is familiar to me. The homes of my childhood are long gone. But I don’t miss them. Right now, it’s been a couple of nights, so I miss my wife and even our dog, but I don’t even miss my actual house. My “things.” They are not my home. You are my home. The life you have given to me is my home. I don’t know. When I saw that line this morning it just struck me. You have always been and always will be my home. If home is where my heart is, then you will always be my home, and my wife will be my home as long as either of us are alive this side of death. Oh, thank you. And I mean that. Thank you.

Father, I want to close by praying for a friend and his wife. Yesterday, I prayed for a relative with a health situation. That was pretty minor to what I heard about last night, and it broke my heart. My friend’s wife is potentially dangerously ill. It’s one of those illnesses that it’s hard to see how my faith and prayers can match up. Yesterday’s situation was, while significant, small enough for my prayers. Today, I feel like the dad who wants Jesus to heal his son, and he tells Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” Right now, for this friend and his wife, I believe, but please help my unbelief. I know in addition to the physical struggle that lies ahead, they are also scared and sad. I would be too. Oh, Holy Spirit, join with us in prayer. Moan for us. Moan for her. Moan for him. Speak to the Father through your moaning. Be the God who heals and bring glory to your name through the healing. Be the God who comforts and bring glory to your name through the comfort. Be the God who counsels and bring glory to your name through the counsel. Be the God who sees (see Hagar) and help them to feel seen by you. Be the God who affirms (see Mary with the shepherds’ visit) and encourages, and help them to feel your affirmation, love, and encouragement. Be the God who teaches, and help them to learn just how big you really are and how much you really love them and how much you are calling them to know how to sink into your being. Do not waste any of this experience. She is too precious to have this not count for all of your glory and their growth. Oh, Father, raise up people around them who will love them with your love.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 7, 2024 in Psalms

 

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Luke 2 (Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Simeon and Anna)

20 Dec

Dear God, this is a continuation of the project I started yesterday for a friend and her young daughter to use for Christmas. My hope is that it will help them to experience the Christmas story in a fresh way. I pray that you will be with them as they look through these passages. Be in their discussion over the questions I am asking them. And use all of this in their hearts, and mine (and all of our hearts) to draw us into deeper worship of you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Luke 2

1At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

Luke 2:1-7

  • How long do you think Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem before Jesus was born?
  • Think about the idea that Bethlehem was crowded with people who were there for the same reason Joseph and Mary were there. Given that circumstance, where do you think they were staying while they were in Jerusalem?
  • A manger is a feeding trough, often made of stone. What are some possibilities for where Mary might have given birth to Jesus?
  • How do you think Joseph and Mary were feeling while they sat wherever they were with their new baby? Do you think they might have felt alone and scared?

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Luke 2:8-20

  • God had choices when it came to announcing Jesus’s birth. One option was to not send angels to announce anything at all. Why do you think God chose to send angels to announce Jesus’s birth?
  • God could have sent the angels to anyone to announce the birth. He sent them to some of the poorest men in their society: the shepherds on the night shift. To whom else might God have chosen to send the angels? Why do you think God did NOT choose them, but chose the shepherds instead?
  • What impact do you think the angel visit and then seeing Jesus had on the shepherds for the rest of their lives?
  • What impact do you think the shepherd visit had on Mary and Joseph?

21 Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.

22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” 24 So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,

29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
    as you have promised.
30 I have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared for all people.
32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
    and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.

39 When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee. 40 There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.

Luke 2:21-40

  • Look at verses 34 and 35 again. These are the first recorded negative words Mary and Joseph heard about Jesus. How do you think this made them feel about Simeon?
  • How do you think what Anna did in verse 38 affected Mary and Joseph
  • When Jesus was an adult and Mary no longer had Joseph, Elizabeth, or Zechariah to talk about this with, how important do you think these experiences with the shepherds, Simeon and Anna were to her? How do you think they helped her if she ever started to question what Jesus was doing when he was an adult?
 
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Posted by on December 20, 2023 in Luke

 

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Luke 2:8-20

23 Dec

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Luke 2:8-20

Dear God, yesterday I took this story and spent some time with Mary and Joseph. Today, I want to look at it from the perspective of the shepherds. First, I acknowledge that I probably don’t know enough about shepherds and their lives in this era. But going back to my question yesterday of, “Why did you appear to the shepherds and have them go to see Jesus?” I want to ask this question again from their perspective. Why these guys?

First, what were your options? Local synagogue leaders, the local political officials, the wealthy community leaders, Joseph’s relatives (presumably he had relatives there for the census too), etc. Why didn’t you choose any of these people? When I ask it this way, the answer is pretty obvious: they would have laid their own agenda on top of yours. Church leaders might have tried to take the baby from Mary and Joseph. Local political or community leaders might have tried to prop up Joseph and Mary in an effort to train the child to one day be their leader–ultimately keeping them from being able to flee to Egypt or completely altering the life Jesus led as he grew up. Even his relatives would have been excited about the Messiah being born to their family and they might have tried to influence the rest of Jesus’s life.

Then there are the shepherds. Unassuming. No agenda. No power or prestige. No reason for anyone outside of Mary and Joseph to even believe them. Heck, they could have been drunk and hallucinated the whole thing. No, these were the perfect people to hear about your son being born.

I think every pastor in town would like to think you would have come to them with the news. I would like to think that I would be trustworthy with the news of Jesus being born. But all of us are likely to lay our own agendas, visions, and preconceived notions on what this child’s life should be like. Look at Zechariah and his prophecy over John. A lot of it was wrong. He didn’t understand. No one did. How could they. You needed someone then who wouldn’t try to apply their own ideas and understandings to the situation. How much is that true now as well? How often do I get in the way of your plans with my own “wisdom” and agendas.

Finally, I want to look at what it did for these men in particular. How did they see you differently? What were their conversations like as they went back to the fields? We know they went back praising and glorifying you. Was that the first time in a long time they had done that? Were you more real, more important to them now than you had been the night before? How did this transform the rest of their lives? Their families?

Father, when I come across the moments in my life when you show up, help me to just praise and glorify you. Help me to let go of trying to lay my own plans on top of it. Even at work right now, you did great things for us this year, and there are times I allow myself to become burdened by what I’m supposed to do with the gifts you have given to the organization where I work. But I don’t know, and when I do that it steals the joy from the moment. I forget to worship and glorify you. I don’t forget to be thankful, but I also don’t stop to simply accept the provision and pray for how you want it used. So I pray for that now. Help our organization know how to use the donations of money and time that you bring to us. Help me to know how to glorify your name so that you are always increasing and I am decreasing. Help me to approach life like a shepherd and not like the people from whom you kept the knowledge about Jesus’s birth.

I pray all of this in Jesus’s name because you reconciled me to yourself through his sacrifice and power as your son,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2020 in Luke

 

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