Advent Devotional - Day 23

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.  (Psalm 67:4)

One of my favorite things about Advent is the music you hear this time of year.  The music of Christmas tells the story of Jesus’ birth from many angles.  The story includes shepherds, wise men, angels, a manager and the people who believed.

The hymns “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” and “Silent Night” are just a few of the Christmas songs we sing that bring to us the message from Psalm 67.

The psalms/songs talk about praising God and singing for joy.  We hear about peace on earth and good will to all.  We are surround by love’s pure light and the hopes and fears.  We know the Christ is the everlasting Lord. As we journey through this advent season, may all people praise God and may God bless us all.  And may our faithfulness bring us all together now and forever more.

Heavenly Father we praise you and sing joy to your name.  May we be guide by your loving kindness through this Advent season and always! Amen.

Bobbi Jo Huebner is an elder at First Presbyterian Church, Belle Vernon.

Advent Devotional - Day 12

“May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.”  (Psalm 33:22)  

The waiting of Advent serves as a reminder that God’s people waited centuries for their Messiah.  The prophets of the Old Testament told Israel that God will come to rescue them from their disobedience and restore their relationship.  We hear that in the words of Psalm 33.  As God’s people continue to wait, they are called to put their hope in the Lord.  God will come to us.  Advent reminds us that God’s long-awaited love that never fails has arrived in Jesus Christ.

O God your love is made known to us in the birth of Jesus Christ.  May we place our hope in you alone in this Advent season and every season of our lives.  We pray in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Geoff Rach is the Pastor at Level Green Church

Advent Devotional - Christmas Day

John 3:16:   “For God so loved he world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 embodies Christmas for me. Christmas Eve 1991 found me sitting by my Christmas tree thinking about the son I was about to give birth to. I already loved this little guy so much. Surely no one could love someone as much as I loved my son? Then it hit me. God loved me so much that He was willing to sacrifice His own Son for a sinner like me. I had heard that my whole life, but it really hit home at that moment. God LOVES me, and the Gift of his Son was the best Christmas present I would ever receive.

PRAYER
God Thank for the gift of Jesus. Amen

Sarabeth Stopansky, Elder, Congruity Presbyterian Church, New Alexandria

Advent Devotional - Christmas Eve

Luke 2: 17-18:  The shepherds spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

Love was born in Bethlehem, a town occupied by a foreign power. Love was born to a humble woman and man, in search of safe shelter: birth pangs among the cattle, a manger for a bed. Love was found by shepherds, those on the margins, dirty, raw from the wind and rain. This scripture tells us much about love. In its coming, love shows where it goes.

Love goes where the pain is greatest. Love goes to the lonely, the humble and poor, to the cold and the hungry and thirsty. Love goes to the outcast, the homeless, the oppressed. Love goes to those with broken hearts and broken dreams. Love goes to save the lost.

PRAYER
Gracious God, you have shown us in the sending of your Son, the depth of your love for us. Use us to be agents of your love for the world. Amen.

Rev. Susan Blank, Chaplain, Presbyterian Senior Care, Oakmont

Advent Devotional - Fourth Sunday in Advent

Jeremiah 31:3:  I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. 

Planned obsolescence. Our phones, and even printer cartridges, have a built-in, deliberate shelf-life that just happens to correspond to the latest and greatest product coming out. They’re fair-weather friends, and the consumer just has to get used to it. Things come and go; people come and go. Love ‘em, and they leave you … with the exception of the LORD. 

The LORD could not give up on his people; Israel. No matter what they did – no matter what we do – the LORD will never, ever take that love away. When we look at the manger, we don’t see only an infant, we see love incarnate, a love that will not let us go. 

PRAYER

Lord, in this season, help me to know in a new and unexpected way, your everlasting love for me.

Rev. Alice Tondora, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Johnstown

Lenten Devotional - Good Friday

Scripture: Isaiah 43:15-21

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isa. 43:18-19)

  Methodist preacher Charles W. Allen was once asked, "What is the number one problem you have had to deal with over the years of your ministry?" Without hesitating, Allen answered, "The number one problem I have had to deal with is the mistaken notion so many people have that God is mad at them." As long, as people see themselves as being victims of an angry God, neither God nor his church will ever be a thing for them.

  Isaiah reveals, however, that God's first inclination is love. God is always coming up with new ways to redeem us and to set us right, just as God is going about the work of setting his creation right. God doesn't do old things; God does new things.

  In verses 16-17, God offers his people a reminder of when a similar sort of thing happened. They are reminded of the deliverance of God's people out of slavery in Egypt. God is giving them a snapshot of their ancestors. "Hey, this is what I did for my people in the past!" The Lord made "a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters" for his people to escape their Egyptian oppressors and then "extinguished" their pursuers "like a wick." The same God who did that thing will be the God who will do a new thing by leading the people again out of slavery and exile back to the land God promised them.

  In each new generation, God is doing something new, because in each generation they find new ways to hold themselves in bondage. Deliverance from slavery was a thing, but so was the fact that the people had exchanged slavery in Egypt for the slavery of their own self-serving desires. In many ways, the wilderness was the hardscrabble road that represented God's judgment on his people. Today, people are held in bondage by money, possessions, alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.

  Getting God's people out of Babylon will be another wilderness experience, but it will be a very different kind of thing. "I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert," says God (v. 19). To give up whatever may hold us in bondage, often involves a wilderness journey where God can “do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it.” (v. 19)

  It's good for us to look back and remember what God has done for us in the past, even when that past is marked and marred by our disobedience to God. We've all walked our version of the wilderness road, focusing on "things" that run counter to God's way for us. But, we also need to recognize that God doesn't want us to dwell on that past, but, rather, seek out the new thing God is up to in our lives. God's faithfulness remains consistent, even when our faithfulness wavers.

Lee McDermott, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: Our ability to see God’s grace alive and well around us.

Click Here PDF - Good Friday Devotion

Lenten Devotional - Day 18

Scripture: Psalm 51:12-17

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit…. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Ps. 51:12, 17)

  We don’t like to admit that there may be aspects of our lives where we have little or no control. Twelve step groups frequently speak of surrender, the action of a person who acknowledges that they have lost control and are powerless over their continued use and behavior. A “broken spirit” is a good example of this surrender. Surrender is not easy, people want to believe, they are in control even a little bit, but without complete surrender they will always fall back to old, destructive patterns. The surrender that leads to recovery starts in the same way the psalmist states, with “a broken and contrite heart.” (v. 17)

  Psalm 51 are the anxious words of one who feels desperately cut off from the presence of God. The psalmist here is broken by sin and guilt and is pleading with God for restoration. Many individuals, not just those suffering from addiction, share the same brokenness described by the Psalmist. Individuals in the depths of their brokenness who will hear the words that we preach and are convinced that God is justified in abandoning them. Their addictive behavior has surrounded them with their guilt and shame and they are certain that sin has rendered them utterly unworthy of any communion with God. What words do we offer to the desperate? Do we offer confirmation of their worthlessness, by driving home the destructive consequences of their sin?

  Lent is a season in which all of us are called back to a right relationship with God. For some individuals, they are certain that not even repentance will lead them on the path toward restoration. Restoration will only come when they are freed from the guilt that has for too long crushed their soul and spirit. The Psalmist offers to the desperate the solution to our epic problem of restoration with God: steadfast love and abundant mercy, a God who is eternally “for us” with the endless love of a mother for her child. The God whose everlasting love will never abandon us, no matter what our guilt says. Steadfast love and abundant mercy not only heals us of the stain of sin, but also of the lie of our worthlessness. Who among us doesn’t need to hear that word?

  The psalmist then prays for the power not to sin again (vv. 10-13). He wants a clean heart that can stay clean. He understands that such an action is beyond his human ability, but is available from God, who has the power to cause the change of human hearts. Our calling in season and out of season is announcing that restoration between God and his people is possible, restoration to our relationships with others is possible, restoration to God’s salvation is possible, restoration to church and community is possible. Lent is calling us to acknowledge our own restoration and how it is possible for our neighbor through the steadfast love and mercy of God.

Lee McDermott, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: Families with broken hearts because of the heroin epidemic.

Click Here PDF - Day 18 Devotion

Lenten Devotional - Day Eight

Scripture: John 3:16-17

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)

  My first memories of life were growing up in the church and being taught to memorize John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Knowing these words, personally, made it an even more strange and difficult experience for me to understand that others I met later in life had no experience with the church, scriptures or Jesus. They had no basic understanding of God, which I had taken for granted for years.

  Some have never heard this … They did not know nor had anyone tell them that God loved them. They never had someone to tell them the stories of scripture that told of God’s abundant love. They had never heard about Jesus Christ and how Jesus tells us so much about our lives and how we could better live our lives. They have never heard of grace, mercy, forgiveness and all the joy these could bring to their lives.

  Some have heard and don’t believe it … I met others who had been told about God and did not believe it was something they could embrace. The reasons could be numerous for their disbelief. Some heard that the story was not for them and they were not included in God’s story. Some were told a story with too many conditions and rules for them to follow.

  Some think they tried it and it didn’t work…. Some were told God would do all the heavy lifting and when God did not, they concluded that it did not work. Some found it did not work because they were expected to give up too much or do things they found too difficult.

  Some have heard it and don’t believe it applies to them because of their many sins…. Some were told their belief would not matter, because their sin was too great. They were told grace, love, forgiveness and mercy simply passed them by because they choose poorly.

  Too many people have believed too many false narratives, when God through John clearly tells us, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (v. 17)

Lee McDermott, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: Churches seeking to discern how God will help them be welcoming and hospitable to those struggling with addiction.

Click Here PDF - Day Eight Devotion

Lenten Devotional - Day Six

Today’s Scripture: Psalm 51:1-17

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions… For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” (Ps. 51:1, 3)

  Many suffering from alcohol and other drug (AOD) dependency clearly understand the depth of their destructive behavior “for I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” They would like to declare with the psalmist “have mercy on me, O God” but they have come to believe that the “steadfast love” of God is unavailable. They have come to believe that God’s “mercy” will not “blot out my transgressions.” Having given up on hope and they need to rely upon others. 

  For individuals dealing with addiction, just as the Psalmist experienced, there is only one way to salvage his life: He needs to call on God (vv. 1-2). The Psalmist gets to the point immediately, pronouncing himself a sinner. He throws himself on the mercy of God, knowing that he deserves no mercy. His prayer is an admission of guilt (v. 3), one in which he does not try to maintain his innocence, defend or explain his action or try to put the responsibility on another party. The psalmist stands as his own accuser and he acknowledges that to God. The first step to true penitence is a clear recognition of one's own sin and a willingness to accept responsibility for their behavior.

  For the person struggling with addiction, recovery will not begin if they are dealt with harshly. Any accusation of their sin only deepens what they already know about themselves and only increases the guilt they are currently carrying upon their hearts. While maintaining their denial, they will seldom share these feelings. What they need to hear is that God is merciful and loves them. They need the church to share with them this hope and the knowledge that God is willing to blot out their transgressions. They need the loving care of others to find this grace of God, initially they will not believe it possible, but it is a message the church is obligated to repeat frequently and often.

  "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment" (v. 4). The psalmist is not denying that he has wronged other people in directing this comment to God. However, in the presence of God, whom he has alienated, the important aspect of his sin is that which is focused toward God. When sin is seen in its relationship to God, no matter against whom the wrong has been directed, every sin is directed against God. It is always God's right to make demands and call humans to account.

  Lent reminds us every year, how much of God’s “steadfast love” and “mercy” has been given to us through Jesus Christ. We are the benefactors of God’s mercy and we are not to keep it to ourselves, but to share it with others in need of God’s mercy.

Lee McDermott, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: Individuals seeking God’s mercy in God’s steadfast love.

Click Here PDF - Day Six Devotion