Advent Meditations: Wednesday 19 December
| Wed Dec 19 |
am: 115: pm: 50 |
Is 11:1-9 | 1 Tim 1:18-20, | Luke 1:5-25 |
Notes on the Liturgical Feast for Today : Augustine Moi, Martyr of Vietnam, 1839 Augustine worked as a day laborer. When the persecution of the faith started, he was ordered to trample a crucifix, an act he refused. Augustine’s tormentors strangled him for his loyalty to Christ)
O Antiphon : O Radix Jesse – O Root of Jesse you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in Your presence; the nations bow down in worship before You. Come; let nothing keep You from coming to our aid.
Biblical Meditation : Today’s Lessons are taken from the lectionary of the Church of Ireland. The Pslam 115 calls the people of God to acknowledge the supreme honor of the LORD and to reject the idols who have no place in the lives of God’s people. We tend to skim over passages that include references to idolatry, because we see it as something that only Old Testament believers struggled with and not pertinent to us in the modern world. Perhaps that is because we dont grasp that an idol is anything we want more than God, anything we rely on more that God, anything we look to for greater fulfillment than God. In view of this we should note the irony of the line of the Pslam —People become like the gods they make! Lifeless.
In this season where the spiritual and the materialistic are juxtaposed we should reflect on what idols we have in our lives. Are we aware that idols today can take various forms. For many of us idols are often “good” things that we’ve made “ultimate” things. A few examples which we often put our value and confidence in above all else may include our children, spouse, physical attractiveness, money, job, or even our friendships. Than of course there is always the danger that money presents. None of these are not inherently evil, but they become a problem when we begin to believe that they satisfy us more than God. And so we are called to journey to a place in this season and give the highest of of our affections to a babe born into nothing that this world would value. That is why the last part of the psalm is so important as it considers how we should respond to the basic fact of the existence of one, true, living God who is actively involved in the world despite being of lowly estate
PRAYER : Have mercy on me, Father, and free my foolish heart from giving anything or anyone the attention, allegiance, affection, and adoration you alone deserve. May the gospel of your grace relentlessly expose and dethrone all “empty nothings” from my heart especially in this season of Advent. May the beauty and bounty of the one whom we await so fill my heart that there’s little room leftover for anything else. I ask these things in Jesus’ most precious name. AMEN
Spiritual Discipline /Activity – Spend some time with your possessions ( clothes, things you collect) consider giving away those things which have caused you to take on a spirit of idolatry to those who would have great need of your excess! ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice.” – G.K. Chesterton
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