Christmas can be a painful time for those experiencing grief and loss. The tragedies of this life do not take a holiday during December. My family knows this all too well. Two years ago this December, I was making Christmas cookies to send to school with my boys the next day. It was the final day before Christmas break, and I had a long list of tasks to accomplish, as well as work deadlines to meet. When the phone rang, I didn’t think much of it. My parents had been visiting my dad’s sister, when he’d had what we thought was a minor health issue. An ulcer, he was sure. No need to panic, he’d keep us posted. I finished the cookies, got the boys to bed, and was settling in when another call came. What was thought to be minor was not. My sister and I should come. Less than 24 hours later, we were gathered in an ICU room saying goodbye to one of the most important people in my life. Four days later we would celebrate Christmas in a kind of hazy, numb disbelief. What had happened?
My family’s story is not so unique. Tragedy comes daily in our world. So many experience loss over the holidays, and yet the carols keep playing, the lights keep shining, and the holiday rush keeps going. But here’s the good news. Jesus came to a people living in darkness bringing his light of hope. Jesus didn’t come in the midst of revels and feasts, but in a cold dark stable with two young people who were all on their own. There was no family nearby to celebrate the birth. There were no showers, no diaper cakes, not even a hot meal. Shortly after their child was born, these two young people, alone and completely unprepared for what God was doing, became political refugees, fleeing for their very lives into Egypt. Not only were they far from their families, they were far from their country and the traditions and religious practices that had governed their way of life. Things were a mess. And yet, God was with them–literally–in the child they worked so hard to protect. God is still with us today, even in the midst of our suffering and grief. God asks us to carry him to those who mourn, to those whose hearts are hurting while the world celebrates.
Pray today for those who are mourning. Pray for those who are struggling with broken relationships. Pray for those who have lost their homes or experienced crisis. Pray for those who are lonely.
Ask for God’s presence to be with all of those who grieve this Christmas and to fill them with hope.
Advent is a time of waiting and hope. There is anticipation in Advent. We know that there is more to this life than what the world offers. We know the end of the story—Christ wins—Love is victorious; therein lies our hope.But the walk can be difficult. Life’s trials, pressures, and tragedies can stop us in our tracks. This year, particularly, has been difficult for millions of people around the world. It’s easy to lose hope in the face of so much suffering and uncertainty. And yet, as Jesus people, we are called to choose hope. More than that, we are called to carry the hope of Christ into a world that is fraught with situations in which hope seems to be gone. Jesus calls us to reach out to those who mourn, to those who hunger, to those who are imprisoned, to those who are vulnerable, to those who are alone and to bring them the good news that is Immanuel–God with us. How do people know that God is with them? We bring him to them. We bring hope.
The above image spoke to me, profoundly. One lone person (a woman, in my mind) standing at the edge of the ocean. An unlit lantern is at her feet, and she is watching the horizon over the waves that are rolling in an endless cycle at her feet. There is purpose to her waiting, for she has a light at the ready to point the way for whomever she is seeking beyond the shore. This, then, is what it means to be a Jesus follower. We search the horizon, light at the ready, to point the way for others.
Pray today that others find hope this Christmas season. Pray that your family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors will see the Lord’s goodness afresh.
Pray, too, for hope for those walking in darkness. Pray for the victims of violence and abuse. Pray for those who are enslaved and neglected. Pray for those who live in poverty. Pray for those who are homeless and hungry. Pray for those who live in war-torn nations. Pray that the hope of Christ will shine in the darkest corners of the world, our communities and our homes this Christmas.
I love the prayers of the ancient church leaders. There’s something profoundly meaningful and beautiful about praying the words that millions of saints have prayed for hundreds, or even thousands, of years. The words of those who have passed this way before remind us that we inhabit this space and time for just a moment, but in that moment we are connected by spiritual cords to the past and the future. There is a oneness of time that is celebrated in Advent. We yearn, as all those before us have yearned. We hope, as all those who come after us will hope. And we believe, as all those before us have believed and how we pray that those who come after us will believe. Today, think about the time and place in which you inhabit on this earth. Stretch out your thoughts and call to mind all those who have gone before you. Hold them in one hand, and with the other, take hold of those who will come after. See yourself perfectly centered between the past and the future, with the great I Am holding it all in balance.
Pray this prayer from the ancient Christian Church at Christmas.
Enable us, Lord, to reach the end of this luminous feast in peace, forsaking all idle words, acting virtuously, shunning our passions, and raising ourselves above the things of this world.
Bless your church, which you brought into being long ago and attached to yourself through your own life-giving blood. Help all orthodox pastors, heads of churches, and theologians.
Bless your servants, whose trust is all in you; bless all Christian souls, the sick, those tormented by evil spirits, and those who have asked us to pray for them.
Show yourself as merciful as you are rich in grace; save and preserve us; enable us to obtain those good things to come which will never know an end.
May we celebrate your glorious birth, and the Father who sent you to redeem us, and your Spirit, the Giver of life, now and forever, age after age. Amen.
The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time, I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land. In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is what he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
The world is a place of injustice for many. People are abused, neglected, enslaved and persecuted because of the color of their skin, their gender and even their beliefs.We have seen injustice play out this year in many different ways. Injustice is, unfortunately, a part of the human experience. And yet, God calls us to something different. In Micah, God tells us that what he desires for us, what he expects of us, is to love justice. This is not justice that is born of human laws, but justice that seeks, in all circumstances, what is right in the eyes of God.
In contrast to the world’s injustice, God is righteous. God faithfully seeks to bring justice into the world because of his great love for us. Time and again Scripture tells us that God comes to break chains, that he defends the poor, loves the outcast, and fights for those who are oppressed by the powers of this world. We are called to pursue justice as a response to God’s love.What can you do, this day, to pursue justice? Not in a legal sense, but to bring God’s righteousness to someone who is marginalized, forgotten, or oppressed.
Give thanks today that God always keeps his promises. Pray for justice and righteousness in our world, our communities and our homes.
This Sunday marked the first week of Advent. Like many, our celebrations this year were somewhat muted by the global pandemic that continues to impact everyone’s daily life. I don’t know about you, but 2020 has felt like a mighty river rolling through our lives at peak flood stage. I’ve felt overwhelmed at times, exhausted at trying to stay above water and just praying for some dry ground to appear. So how appropriate is it that we come to the close of this turbulent year in the midst of Advent. Advent has long been one of my favorite seasons. First and foremost, Advent is a season of hope. But it’s not the hope that comes after you blow out the candles on your birthday cake and eagerly anticipate the gift opening. Advent is the hope that comes when you see the small beacon of light from the lighthouse piercing the darkness just beyond the rugged shore. Advent is a hope born of yearning…the fierce belief in the idea that there is something amazing and profoundly better on the horizon. Advent is a season of twilight….we walk in the darkness, but the light is coming.
A few years ago, I developed a daily Advent devotional for a church we were serving. This year, I thought I would share it with you. Each day, there will be a small Scripture passage followed by some thoughts and a guided prayer. Whether you choose this study or another, I encourage you to find some time in the midst of the busyness of the holiday season to take a walk with God, anticipating the light that will break through the deepest night. We are all yearning for something. Let God meet you where you are and show you his promises for your life.
Blessings and Peace,
Sara
#saramsnyder
Advent is the time when we prepare for the coming of Christ into the world. It begins with an acknowledgement of the darkness that surrounds us—the grief, the injustice, the poverty and the oppression. Begin, then, by making a list of the darkness that surrounds your life right now. If you feel led, write down those things in a journal.Ask God to show you the light in each of these circumstances.
Christ is the light that enters into this darkness, bringing with him the gifts of justice, hope, peaceand love.
As followers of Christ, we are called to be bearers of the Light. We must clothe ourselves in God’s justice, hope, peace and love so that we might share these gifts with the world.How can you clothe yourself in God’s justice, hope, peace, and love today? What would that look like in your life? Where do you see each of these traits of God around you?Write those down, as well. Give God thanks for each of them.
This guide is designed to help you both experience and share the Light that is Christ with the world.
Today, pray that God will clear a space in your life to receive his gifts of justice, hope, peace and love. Then, ask God to give you opportunities to share those gifts with others.Choose one concrete action you will take today to show someone else God’s justice, hope, peace, or love.
I have to confess, I have a special place in my heart for the NIV Study Bible. The teen study Bible was the first Bible I remember digging into. It carried me through high school and college. I even took it to seminary! The NIV is to me what the KJV was to my grandparents…it’s the Bible.
Zondervan recently released a fully revised 35th anniversary edition of the NIV Study Bible, and I was tickled to have the opportunity to review it as part of my participation in the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid. I received a review copy free of charge from Bible Gateway, and while I was technically supposed to have posted a review by October 23….I’m only getting to it now. As Solomon said, there is a time to every purpose under heaven…so hopefully it’s better late than never.
Truthfully, I was all set to give this Bible away…I mean, how many Bibles can one girl have? But then I opened it up. And then I started flipping through it. It became abundantly clear to me that this was going to be my new daily study Bible. So, what do I love about this fully revised 35th anniversary edition Bible? In a nutshell, everything!
First…it’s SO comprehensive. There are notes on the text, notes on the historical context, notes on the theological context, timelines, genealogies, maps, comparisons, and….wait for it…beautifully rich FULL COLOR pictures! Take a look…
Introductory facts, stats, and contextual notesfor every book of the BibleScholarly essays and full color photos discussing the historical and cultural context of ScriptureCommentary about key elements of Scripture and answers to those nagging little questions like, “Why was Paul such a chauvinist?”Notes coded by color and symbol to highlight key understandings. A trowel denotes archaeological information, a seedling provides life application notes, and a character symbol shares notes about characters in ScriptureCharts, charts, and more charts…I LOVE charts
The wonderful thing about this Bible, for me, is that it is a combination of the three different Bibles I use in my personal study. (Yes, I know that sounds super nerdy.) I have a life application Bible, a historical and cultural Bible, and several general study Bibles. Now, I have all three of those in one place…and the print is fabulous, too.
One of the other things I really love about this Bible is that the commentary comes from a diverse group of people. There are many different voices represented in this Bible, and that is something that is always important to me.
With Christmas coming, this would make a fantastic gift for any seasoned or burgeoning Bible scholar. Check it out at the Bible Gateway online store. Or, find it at these other fine retailers….
Thanks for reading…more posts are coming with encouraging devotionals as we navigate this strange new normal. As always, I pray blessings and peace upon you and your families.
Full disclosure…I love Bibles. I have half a dozen that I alternate between in my daily Bible study, as well as in my writings. Some have life applications. Others provide historical context. Still others provide key study notes from renowned Bible scholars. But the new NRSV Simple Faith Bible from Zondervan is different from all of these. That’s because it is a collection of teaching from former President, humanitarian, and Bible teacher Jimmy Carter.
#BibleGatewayPartner
I received a copy of the NRSV Simple Faith Bible to review from Bible Gateway, as part of my participation in the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid (BG2) . This was a FREE review copy, and honestly, I jumped at the chance to review it.
Jimmy Carter has long been a hero of mine. For one, he showed me that you don’t have to be a Republican to be a Jesus follower. 😉 (I love you my Republican brothers and sisters in Christ!) But the other much more important witness he has provided is his lifelong commitment to serving others in the name of Jesus Christ. From Habitat for Humanity to working toward eradicating the guinea worm disease, Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center work to build God’s kingdom here on earth by “advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering”. For years, Jimmy has led a Sunday School class at the Marantha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. The NRSV Simple Faith Bible includes some of those teachings, as well as notes, articles, prayers, and articles gathered from Jimmy Carter’s life of service.
All of this comes in a comfort print that is easy to read, and Art Deco designs that enhance the simple beauty of the text. For more about the text features, please read the publisher notes below.
All in all, I LOVE this Bible! The NRSV has long been considered a highly accurate and scholarly translation. It was the preferred translation when I attended seminary, as it is vetted by an ecumenical group of Christian scholars and sticks very closely to the ancient Hebrew and Greek texts in which the Bible was first written. Jimmy Carter’s teachings and prayers reflect a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ and years of personal study and scholarship. His words, while simple and relatable, lead the reader into a deeper walk with God.
Publisher Notes
Former United States President Jimmy Carter’s contagious desire for peace, compassion, and wholeness permeate the notes of this Bible. His decades-long Sunday School teaching ministry, his public service, and his humanitarian engagement form the basis of the book introductions, thoughtful essays, pithy quotes, and honest prayers, calling you to a warmhearted, justice-filled life of faith.
Features
The text of the New Revised Standard Version (66-book Protestant canon), vetted by an ecumenical pool of Christian academics and renowned for its beautiful balance of scholarship and readability
Foreword by Jonathan Reckford, International CEO of Habitat for Humanity
Over 600 application-oriented notes, articles, reflections, and prayers gleaned from Nobel Peace Prize winner and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s extensive teaching ministry and public life of service
It’s Friday…the end of the week… and also the last Friday before the metaphoric end to the summer. I’ve already told my family that next week, I’m getting my full fall on. I’m pulling my three Fall decorations out of the closet and spreading them around the house. I might even get a pumpkin–who knows? It’s Fall, and I love it!
The end of one season, be it literal or metaphoric, is always a time to reflect. It’s a time to remember and consider before stepping into something new. This morning, my daily devotional helped me to do just that. The focus of the devotion was on how God’s best enables our best. It closed with this prayer from Saint Augustine:
When I vacillated about my decision to serve my God, it was I who willed and willed not, and nobody else. I was fighting against myself…All You asked was that I ceased to want what I willed and begin to want what YOU willed.
I have always been a rather strong-willed person. My parents jokingly referred to me as their bulldog. When I got hold of something, I bit down and refused to let go. So, I can relate to Augustine’s dilemma. I want what I will, not because I’m selfish (although we could unpack that word and likely find that I am), but because I know what’s best. I’m a mom, right? Everyone knows that mom’s know best. My will is good. It puts me in control, and I like to be in control–of situations, of relationships, of decisions. When I get stressed out, it’s usually because I’m facing a situation that is outside of my control. Nothing terrifies me more than someone saying, “You have no control over this situation!”
Because it’s Friday and we’re all ready for the weekend (see how I exerted my control, there?), I’m going to cut right to the point. My will stinks. Really…it’s terrible. My will is going to point me in the wrong direction every single time. My will is about control, but my understanding of anything is so limited that I cannot effectively be in control. Control is not my deck to stand on. I’m not the captain of anyone’s ship, nor should I be. What Augustine realized, and the lesson I want to take with me as summer eases into fall, is the understanding that living is not about accomplishing my will, but about accomplishing the will of God. Like Augustine, I need to commit myself to the practice of letting go of my will and taking up God’s.
It’s the prayer Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “Lord, not my will, but Thine.” (Sorry, I was exposed to a lot of King James as a kid!) As the CEB puts it:
For the next several months, this is going to be my prayer each morning: to leave my will at the feet of God’s throne and to pick up his instead. I invite you to join with me as we shift our focus in the coming days, weeks, and months from our own will so that we might fully embrace God’s will for our lives. I believe that if we can successfully put God’s will first, amazing transformations will happen. How might the world look if we fully committed to God’s will? God’s will is justice. God’s will is peace. God’s will is hope. God’s will is love. God’s will is salvation. God’s will is redemption. Think about that. Think about what a world according to God’s will would be. While our world will always be flawed, it can be better. And we, the Jesus people, can make it so. Will you pray this prayer with me as we enter into a new season? Will you take up this mantra and seek to live it anew each day? Will you work to relinquish your will for the ultimately better will of God? I’m going to try. I’m going to fail. But I’m going to remember that God’s mercies are new each morning….so great is his faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
I have to be honest…my soul has been heavy lately. The divisive political cycle, the continued inequity, the screaming of Earth in frustration of what humanity has done and is doing to the sacred majesty of God’s own creation…not to mention a global pandemic that makes every decision fraught with anxiety and uncertainty. Sometimes, it’s too much and my souls sinks under the weight of it.
I’ve been praying over and over the past several days…seeking some sort of wisdom from above, and what God keeps quietly speaking to my heart is this:
To be honest, when this verse kept popping into my head, I essentially said “Thanks, but no thanks” to God. This verse did not seem useful in a time when everything seems to be spiraling into the abyss of emotional chaos. What is there to praise, I thought. What is God doing to save us from the mess we’ve created? Standing with feet planted, fists firmly placed on hips, I said to God, You’re not fixing this.How can I put my hope in you when you’re not changing anything?
Just writing that makes me nervous because I feel that God would be well within his right to zap me right now. There’s a part of me that’s very hesitant to question God, as I know that God truly is all-power and all-knowing combined. But God is also all-love–love incarnate, and so there is a gentleness and patience that he brings to every conversation. While I stamp my foot in indignation, he quietly listens and waits. For what? For the inevitable conclusion that he knows I will get to as I continue to process the state of my disconsolation with him. God reminded me, yet again, that he knows what is going on. He knows what a mess we’ve made, and it breaks his heart. God wants so much more for us, but he’s not going to force us into it. We have a role to play, too. We have to be better at living as he’s taught us. We have to be better at loving as he loves us. We have to be better at fighting for the things he fights for–justice, peace, mercy, and salvation. We have to be better.
That is not at all the direction I intended this post to take. Honestly, I was getting ready to tell you all about the stories God has shared with me of how he has worked in the lives of others to effect change. I was going to remind you that we serve a mighty God, one in whom we can hope with confidence to bring us his victory. And that’s all true, my friends. But as I write about God and his power, he seems to be reminding me that I have a responsibility, too. I can’t just throw my hands up in the air and say, “Well, God’s obviously not interested.” The truth is that God is very much interested and has given me (and you) the tools to get to work. God’s not jumping in like an overbearing helicopter parent and fixing it all for us. He’s empowering us to do the work with him. His promise is to be there with us…leading, teaching, strengthening….and when we get to a mountain we cannot seem to move….when we’ve exhausted all of the resources he’s given us…then, my friends….then we see his mighty hand.
Paul reminds us in the book of Ephesians that God can do more than we ask–more than we imagine. I don’t know about you, but I can imagine a lot! There is a promise here that if we continue to follow where God leads, if we continue to engage in the work that he gives us, if we continue to place our hope in him, he’s going to move those mountains. He’s going to transform this world into something we cannot even fathom….something so good we didn’t even know to ask for it! But, we have to work.
So, where is God calling you to go this week? Who is God calling you to reach out to? What encouragement is God calling you to offer? What battle is God asking you to fight? The tools are there, in God’s Word, in our time spent with other believers, in our worship, in our prayer. So pick them up. And in doing so, our souls will be lifted, too.
One of the hardest things about losing my dad was that in his passing, I lost a trusted guide and spiritual mentor. My dad was the one we all went to when we needed some direction. He didn’t really offer practical advice–that’s more my mom’s forte–but what he did offer was an empathetic ear, guided discernment, and spiritual encouragement. Dad let us talk through our problems. He asked questions to lead us into a better understanding of the situation and helped us get a 360 degree view of things. He shared experiences from his own life, and offered a few suggestions of what we might do. He also threw in relevant Scripture teachings to aid us as we worked through whatever the issue was. So when I found myself staring into the face of a situation that left me in a state of unease recently, I really really wanted the opportunity to discuss the situation with him.
As I lay in bed, mulling the situation over one night, I called Dad to mind. I pictured him, sitting across from me in our living room, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his fingers clasped together, listening closely as I shared the situation with him. I heard his voice as he asked me questions…questions I knew he would ask from 40 + years of the parent-child relationship. The dialogue continued, in my mind, as Dad said, “You know, here’s what I think…” And what my dad would have thought was right there, coming up from inside of me, from years of his counsel and encouragement, from time spent together. It was a true conversation with my dad, albeit one I was totally constructing in my head. And after I had played through everything I knew we would have discussed, including a relevant Scripture passage, I felt more at peace. I knew what was right–the direction in which I needed to go. Although the conversation was a total figment of my too-active imagination, it was also completely real because of the relationship that I had with my dad while he was on this earth. My dad is a part of me, and he always will be.
God, the Creator, Redeemer, Deliverer, Sustainer, Beginning, End, Mighty One, Light, Salvation, Rock, Defender, Hope for the Hopeless, Bringer of Justice, Teacher, Lover of Mercytakes up permanent residence within us.
Just as those we’ve loved and lost continue to exist in some form within us, so, too, Christ’s Spirit lives within our souls. The difference, of course, is that the Spirit of Christ is alive and active rather than an essence of memory. Indwell is a verb that means to be permanently present within one’s soul or mind. It comes from the root dwell, which means to permanently reside in one location. So, when Scripture tells us that God dwells within us…that the Spirit of Christ is indwelling within our souls…this means that God, the Creator, Redeemer, Deliverer, Sustainer, Beginning, End, Mighty One, Light, Salvation, Rock, Defender, Hope for the Hopeless, Bringer of Justice, Teacher, Lover of Mercy takes up permanent residence within us. Think about that. God, the one from whom all things come and who holds all things in his hands, willingly takes up a permanent residence within us. This means that whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, however ugly and awful life might get, God is right there with us in the midst of it because he is in the midst of us.
And yet, too often we are unaware of this great presence within us, and so we do not access God’s wisdom and counsel because we have not fully prepared ourselves for his indwelling. We have not maintained the relationship. I can call my dad to mind because we had an active relationship. We communicated on a regular basis. We spent time in each other’s presence. I listened to him, watched him, learned from him, and in doing so I knew him.
The same is true for our relationship with God.
If we want to experience God’s indwelling within us, we must have an active relationship with him. And what are the hallmarks of an active relationship with God?
Time in his Word–In Scripture, we learn who God is and come to an understanding of his nature. Scripture is the inspired word of God, which means that it is God-breathed. When we read his Word, we do so with his Spirit, and that Spirit opens our mind to understanding God more fully.
Communicating with God in Prayer–When we pray, we place ourselves before God’s throne. It is an opportunity to be in God’s presence, to commune with him and to receive from him all that he would offer. Prayer changes us from the inside out.
Experiencing God with Others–We all need others to walk with us on our journey, which is why we have the opportunity to worship and grow together through the Body of Christ. Church is important, not because it’s a pretty building or going is what we’ve always done, but because it is the Body of Christ gathered together to learn, grow, and work.
When we do these things, we can fully experience the indwelling of God through his Spirit. And when we have that indwelling, we are never alone. God is there, at any moment, in any situation, to give us his strength, his wisdom, his comfort, his grace, his forgiveness, his love.
Are you preparing yourself for God’s indwelling today?
Confessions of the Pastor's Wife 