Daily Advent Reading #3

• Adults: Isaiah 57:14-21
• Kids: Isaiah 57:15

And it will be said:
“Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”

¹⁵ For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁶ I will not accuse forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me—
the breath of man that I have created.

¹⁷ I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.

¹⁸ I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,

¹⁹ creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
says the LORD. “And I will heal them.”

²⁰ But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
which cannot rest,
whose waves cast up mire and mud.

²¹ “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Daily Advent Reading #2

• Adults: Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
• Kids: Isaiah 53:4-5

¹³ See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁴ Just as there were many who were appalled at him
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—

¹⁵ so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Isaiah 53

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Daily Advent Reading #1:

• Adults: Isaiah 52:1-12
• Kids: Isaiah 52:7

¹ Awake, awake, O Zion,
clothe yourself with strength.
Put on your garments of splendor,
O Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.

² Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.

³ For this is what the LORD says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.”

⁴ For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
lately, Assyria has oppressed them.

⁵ “And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD.
“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
and those who rule them mock, ”
declares the LORD.
“And all day long
my name is constantly blasphemed.

⁶ Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I.”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.

⁹ Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰ The LORD will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.

¹¹ Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

¹² But you will not leave in haste
or go in flight;
for the LORD will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Advent is a Christian season practiced during the four weeks leading up to Christmas and helps us commemorate the first coming of Christ while also anticipating his return. Rediscovering the practice of Advent can help us shake off the commercialization of Christmas and reclaim this season for worship again, for genuine gift-giving, and especially, for fixing our faith on the radical hope of Christ.

Our Advent season this year will be marked by three practices:

Four Advent Sunday Gatherings
We’ll begin with the first of four gatherings starting on Sunday, November 29th. These will be short worship gatherings (about an hour) in each others homes that will involve everyone and focused on drawing our attention toward Christ and his coming. We’ll have scripture readings, songs, and prayer together. The dates and locations are:

Sunday night we wrapped up our series of discussions on community formation with an overview of mission. This represents the outer layer in our proposed rhythm of life: Discipleship > Community > Mission. The subject of “mission” and being “missional” is a hot topic in Church circles these days, so it’s important that we capture a way to think about what this means for our lives together.

Mission Belongs to God
Taking John 5:1-30 as our focus, I proposed that mission is the missio dei, or the “mission of God,” which is His act of entering into the world and doing His work of redemption and restoration. Fundamentally, then, mission belongs to God – not the Church. He initiates it and sustains it. We don’t bring God to people, God is already “at work” in the world (John 5:17) bringing about His redemption and restoration, making the world right again.

To put it another way, the church doesn’t have a mission, the mission of God has a church.

I recently read an article in Patrol Magazine that I think fits rather nicely with our discussions about community. Stephen Simpson is a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and asks the question, “Why is church so dull?” and I don’t think his answers are what you would expect. Here’s an excerpt:

As much as postmodern evangelicals bandy about the word “community,” our gatherings have changed very little. Stylistic alterations might add some hipster flair, but the focal point of the liturgical week remains theater. A dozen or so people perform for a few hundred that sit, stand, kneel, pray, and sing on command. We squeeze real community into the gaps, between events with a hierarchical structure. Not only is this a long way from Biblical models of the early Christian church, it’s a breeding ground for messy group dynamics. And, again, it’s boring.

The issues he raises are exactly what we’re wrestling with. I’m not saying you should agree with everything he says, but please take some time to read the whole article by clicking here, then come back and share your thoughts.

Last night we had a great discussion about what it means to be a community of faith and what some of our challenges might be. This week I’d like to use this website as a way to anchor that ongoing discussion.

This will be the only major post this week. I’ll add a few brief quotes and links over the next few days that hopefully with stir the pot a bit, but for the most part this is the critical discussion we need to have in depth.

Last night I suggested that community life together is where discipleship actually occurs most powerfully. I would add that it’s only in our community relationships with one another that we encounter biblical “salvation.” If you want to dig in a little right now, here are some key biblical narratives for gaining a vision of how the people of God are to live out salvation concretely in community:

• What: Thanksgiving lunch!
  
• Where: Grape Day Park, Escondido Ca.
• When: November 27, 12PM
• Why: Hello…food and friends!

Come join us on the day after Thanksgiving at 12PM for a Turkey lunch/dinner with our homeless friends who live in the park. Bring enough food for you and more to share with those who may not have enough. We need:

• Turkey sandwiches
• Stuffing
• Potato Salad
• Fruit
• Trimmings (mayo, mustard, cranberry sauce, etc)
• Bottled water
• Plates, forks, knives, napkins, & cups.

Please  RSVP by commenting below with what you plan to bring and who is coming with you. See you at the park!

Today’s post come from my friend Roy Inzunza. He brings a wealth of experience as a practitioner of spiritual formation exercises, so I’ve asked him to chime in on our conversation.

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“One can begin one’s [spiritual] quest by attending to the desires of the heart, both personal and communal.  The Spirit is revealed in our genuine hopes for ourselves and for the world.”

When we talk about spiritual formation – the process of becoming transformed into the  image of Christ – we must begin by talking about desire. It is in desire that our true  longings reside. And boy, do we have desires! 

So far I’ve said that everything we do is spiritual, therefore everything we do is worship. When it comes to discipleship, or “spiritual formation,” that means every realm of life is open to spirituality – and that spiritual training should involve every realm of life.

But some will object that doing so will lead to religious legalism.

Nobody wants to be in a legalistic church, where people judging themselves and others according to petty and meaningless external behaviors. This is already the case! According to studies of Christian character the Western Church by-and-large already produces an insincere form of religious legalism - it just happens to be a shallow form. But shallow religiosity is still religiosity. Setting a low bar of expectations has not saved us from the error of the Judaizers, it has only created a modern, secularized form of it. We’ve pressed the lessons of Luther and Calvin to the point of complete absurdity, making salvation nothing more than a matter of pure motives and approved doctrines. Now, instead of suffering under the blight of a works-based righteousness, we suffer under the blight of an information-based unrighteousness.