Fourth Sunday of Advent

Jan 29 2025

The Best Dwelling Place

In today’s first reading King David is settled in his cedar palace, no upcoming battles on the horizon, feeling quite content, glass of wine in hand, chatting with Nathan the prophet about how good life is, when he gets this inspiration: “God should have a house! Certainly more than that old tent we have been dragging around. And I will build it!” Nathan approves.

But that night, God weighs in: “Tell David, ‘Thanks, but no thanks. I like the tent.’ ” We don’t know why God said no to David. But it seems that God wanted to make clear not only who was building God’s dwelling place but also who really was in charge of everything. God was the kingdom builder and God chose to work with very simple material, like a tent. But this was nothing compared to God’s decision a millennium later, on the day when the angel Gabriel was sent to a town of Galilee called Nazareth.

God’s plan from the beginning was to take up residence among us closer than any building could be, whether it was as magnificent as Solomon’s temple or as humble as the simplest parish church. What God intended was to dwell with us as one of us, taking on human flesh and blood. And in the fullness of time God came asking if one of us would be willing. We don’t know how long it took for Mary to answer. We only remember the important thing: she said yes.

Consider/Discuss

What difference does it make that God chose to dwell among us as one of us?
Do you think of yourself as a dwelling place of God, as a temple of the Holy Spirit?
What effect does that have in daily living?

Responding to the Word

O come, O come, Emmanuel. Make your dwelling place in us this day. Let the world recognize that we are a people chosen to be a sign of your loving, merciful, justice-seeking, reconciling presence in the world. Thank you for the many ways you continue to do the impossible in us, through us. Amen.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

David has amassed enough wealth to build a palace for himself, and he is no longer threatened by enemies. The author states very clearly that the peace that David enjoys is not the result of any victory of his own but comes from the good pleasure of the Lord. Now David realizes that the progress he and his people have made politically and socially has not carried over to their religious life. He turns to the prophet Nathan and tells him that he wishes to build a fitting temple for his God. Though God legitimates the Davidic ruling line, it will be Solomon, a descendant of David, not David himself, who will build the temple.

Paul sums up the central theme of his own teaching, namely, that God’s new act of revelation in Christ will bring even the Gentiles to the commitment of faith. Paul claims that the revelation of God in Christ was really present in ages past, but as a mystery that was kept secret. This revelation might have been hidden in the past, but those who have eyes of faith today should be able to read these writings and there discover something of God’s plan. The purpose of the revelation of this mystery is universal salvation. All, Gentiles included, are to be brought to the commitment of faith.

The account of the Annunciation is cast in a traditional pattern of angelic birth announcements, alerting the reader to the divine significance of future events. Typical in angelic appearances, Mary’s reaction is fear. The angel reassures her that everything that will happen in and through her is in God’s plan. She does not question that this will happen, but how it will happen, because she is a virgin. The angel assures her that she will be overshadowed by God’s Spirit and power. The scene concludes with Mary’s acceptance. As a servant of the Lord, she is also a model of openness and receptivity.

Jan 24 2025

Nothing Is Impossible for God!

If you surveyed the people in Henry Ford’s day about what they hoped for in transportation, they would have said, “Breed a faster horse.” If you surveyed the Jews before the time of Jesus about what they wanted in a Messiah, they would have said, “A powerful king to drive out the Romans.”

Yet the future doesn’t always arise directly from the paths of the past. The Ruler of the universe seems to delight in making sudden turns, knocking human expectations sideways. The shepherd boy David is the smallest among his tall and handsome brothers, yet he is the one whose house is to last forever. An obscure girl in the hillbilly region of Galilee says yes to God, and a baby as tiny as a pinhead grows in her womb as the Savior of the world. How can this be?

The angel Gabriel says, “Nothing will be impossible for God.” Hear that again: Nothing will be impossible for God. Nothing. What if you and I gave our total yes to that statement? What if that conviction sank into our core? “Nothing is impossible for God!” There would be no region of our existence that the grace of Christ could not redeem. We would not limp through life with limited expectations. We would never stop seeking for the surprises of the Spirit. If nothing were impossible for God, we would never give up! We would not lose hope in people or institutions. We would never give up on ourselves or our circumstances. Even when things got hard, we would not quit. We would march forth with courage, believing that nothing is impossible for God.

As Christmas preparations intensify, can we do that? Holy Spirit, make sure our conviction that nothing, nothing, nothing is impossible for God!

Consider/Discuss

Is there someone whom you feel like giving up on? Circumstances that cause you to feel despair? What institutions feel hopeless? If nothing is impossible for God, how might you flip that perception around to see it in a new way?
When has the Spirit done the unexpected in the history of your life? What difference did that make? Share that story of God’s unexpected grace with someone this Christmas.

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, you are the source of courage. The early Christians trained for martyrdom by repeating, “Nothing is impossible for God!” In these few days left before Christmas, strengthen us for all that we have to do, holding fast to that belief in the miraculous. The Son is coming. All will be well. Glory to God in the Highest!

Jan 24 2025

Scripture Study for

In the time of David, it was customary for a king to honor his patron god by building a temple, thus David’s resolve to build a “house” for the God who gave him his throne. But the God of Israel does not want things done the usual way and instead promises to build for David an everlasting “house,” or dynasty. This passage, then, is the founding story of the Davidic dynasty, the chosen monarchy of the God of Israel. Although the monarchy came to an end four hundred years later at the time of the Exile, this promise remained “on the books,” and was revived many years later in conjunction with the rise of Jewish messianic expectations under the Greeks and Romans.

Paul ends his Letter to the Romans with a doxology to the faithful, righteous God who has made possible justification and salvation for all in Christ. Throughout the letter Paul has proclaimed and explained “his” gospel, which is the proclamation of Jesus Christ himself. In Christ has been revealed the “mystery kept secret for long ages,” namely that the promises made to Israel long ago would also be made available to “all nations” through the “obedience of faith,” that is, belief and trust in God’s justifying action in Christ. It is for this reason that this eternally faithful and wise God should be given praise through that same Christ.

Gabriel has come to Mary to announce that a long-standing, slowly unfolding divine plan for the whole world is reaching its climax. References to David point toward the divine election of the Davidic monarchy and God’s promise to uphold it “forever,” a promise on pause since the Exile, but now revealed to come to pass in the Son to be born to Mary. Naturally enough she is bewildered, unable to fathom how this is possible. Gabriel’s explanation, along with his announcement that the aged and barren Elizabeth will also give birth, drives home a key point of all the scriptures, which is that “nothing will be impossible for God.”

Jan 13 2025

Living a Dream

The Bible offers us a rich variety of men and women who qualify as heroes, warriors, prophets, and wise men and women. And every so often it places before us a dreamer. Jacob had the first big dream, with that ladder connecting heaven and earth, bearing ascending and descending angels.

His son Joseph started off with dreams that put himself at the center, much to his brothers’ chagrin, but later he saved himself by interpreting the dreams of others, including Pharaoh. However, the most important dreamer of all was Joseph, spouse of Mary and foster father to Jesus.

Joseph was asked to live out his dream. “[D]o not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her,” he was told in a dream (Matthew 1:20). And not only that, he was to name the child Jesus, which means “God saves.” What all this cost him we don’t know. All we hear is that when he awoke from the dream, he did what had been asked and took Mary into his home.

That wasn’t the end of the dreams. “Joseph, take the mother and child into Egypt—Herod is trying to kill him.” “Joseph, take the mother and child out of Egypt—Herod is dead.” And Joseph did. Maybe once you begin to live God’s dream it gets easier.

God’s dream is that we live in the world as God’s adopted and saved children, working to bring God’s peace and justice, mercy and forgiveness into our world wherever they are needed.

Consider/Discuss

What do you think God’s dream is for our world today?
Do you know Jesus as Emmanuel (God with us)?

Responding to the Word

We ask God to continue to save us in our own day from all that would lead us away from God. We ask God to continue to help us to know Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, so that our faith may be rooted in the wisdom and power of God.