Catch-Up Time!

Posted on December 5, 2022 by jamiebrame

For those of you who might want to see the whole devotional booklet for 2022, I am adding them here today, December 5. Sorry I didn’t get them started on the first day of Advent!

– jamie

November 27, 2022 , First Sunday in Advent

Ecclesiastes 3: 1

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

“Happy New Year!” Usually, we wait until January 1 to begin saying this to others, but as a Christian who attends church, you also know that the “liturgical year” begins with the first Sunday of Advent. Our worship year begins back in the Hebrew Bible, where the expectation of and hope for a Messiah was born. So, we reach into that part of the Bible as we begin Advent.

It’s time for us to move into this new season of the church year, to set aside time for new habits and practices. Today is a day for setting simple goals: to remember what some like to say is the “reason for the season.” 

Let’s begin with hope and expectation during these following days. Look for the spiritual gifts of Christmas. Soften your heart. Slow down.Try not to over-commit. Pray daily.

There’s a time and season for everything. 

Prayer: As we move into a busy season, help us to take a breath each day: a breath full of you, our God; in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

November 28, 2022

Psalm 10: 1

Why do you stand far off, God? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Being asked to take time for God during the busyness  of December is a slap in the face for some people. “God doesn’t take time for me!” we might hear them say. 

How often are we actually listening and looking for God?

We’ve seen how often complaints against God are lodged by impatient people who quit trying after one or two brief attempts. 

A 10-year-old in my Sunday School class in Dublin, GA, figured it out. When asked if God still spoke to people in modern times, little Mandy spoke up: “Yes, God does. But people don’t take the time to learn God’s language.” 

Let’s take time. Someday, we will see that God is never far off. Someday, we’ll understand God’s language.

Prayer: We will search for you, God, in all the places you dwell. For your dwelling place is with people. Here we are: please help us to see you, in Christ’s name we pray, amen.

November 29, 2022

From John 1

In the beginning the Word was; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God….And the Word became flesh and lived among us.

Someone occasionally asks me if I believe in the Word of God. I say, “Yes. And I accepted him as my Savior.” Inevitably, I get a confused look.

The Word of God, according to the Gospel of John, is not a book, but a person, a real live blood-bones-skin-muscle human being. Of course, the Bible is also called the Word. John, though, felt that God spoke clearest by sending a human message: Jesus. Jesus is all we need to know about God.

We are in a time of waiting and expectation. We’re waiting for Jesus to be revealed to us once again, and we’re praying that that revelation will help us to grow in faith and understanding. We’re praying that we will be renewed in faith and gain new knowledge about God. We’re looking for the true Word of God in the person of the Savior.

Prayer: Show yourself to us, Christ Jesus, so that this time of Advent may be as meaningful to us as to those people long ago who awaited the coming of the Messiah, in your holy name we pray, amen.

November 30, 2022

Micah 5:2

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times.

Bethlehem plays an important part in the stories of Jesus’ birth. It was a very small place, not much of a village. There weren’t tons of inns, and if folks were staying there, it’s likely they were staying in tents. Still, it is the place of the Savior’s birth, and for us it will always be larger than life.

It just proves again that you don’t have to be rich, famous, powerful, or anything like what we too-often value in our culture: Jesus wasn’t just born in a stable, he was born in a place that was barely on the map! Yet out of these humble beginnings came the Lord of all creation, and it is the birthplace of our faith.

Prayer: Help us not to look for you among the rich and famous, Lord Jesus, but among the poor and forgotten. For, like your birthplace, it is in those unexpected and even unworthy places that you still dwell. We pray in your name always, amen.

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About jamiebrame

Greetings, fellow earthlings. I'm the retired Program Director at Christmount, the national retreat, camp, and conference center of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Black Mountain, NC. From September 2019 through October, 2020, I served Timberlake Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lynchburg, VA, as interim minister. After taking more than a year off, First Christian Church (DoC), Wilson, NC, offered me the position of Interim Minister, beginning May 10, 2022. Originally from Eden, NC, I graduated from John Motley Morehead High School, earned a BA in Religion and Philosophy at Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), and eked out a Master of Divinity from the Divinity School at Duke University. I served, in various positions, churches (part time and full time) in North Carolina and Georgia, and have lived in Black Mountain, NC, since 1989. I married Renae in 1992 (she refers to these years as "looooooooooong" years. I've spent the past 50 years or so trying to practice Christian contemplative prayer with some touches of Zen meditation to help the journey along. Married to a wife who is much holier than I am, I am fortunate to learn from her daily about how to do this thing called spirituality. Being an ordained minister doesn't make me holy (but occasionally, as you'll read, a little sanctimonious, so forgive me in advance!); but I hope that I put my education to good use. I'd love to be considered a spiritual teacher, but I know myself too well to claim that. While I do a bit of teaching, I think the best teaching we do is when we remain silent (the old desert abba said something like, "if you won't learn from my silence, you won't learn from my talking"). But silence shouldn't turn into quietism, and we do have to speak out and act for justice and fairness and equality for all. I frequently ask myself the question, "Does it matter?" about the major - and minor - issues of the day. What I think matters: love for God, equality, fairness, loving our neighbor, feeding hungry people, housing homeless ones, clothing naked ones, and especially caring for children; basically, caring for those who have some trouble caring for themselves. AND our relationship with God. What doesn't matter: what you think of me. I'm not very Christ-like. You won't hear me talking about all the things I do for others, or all the things I do for God - I was taught that It's not about me, and using good works to get attention for myself isn't what Christian faith is about - look up "narcissism" on Google. I'm not sure Jesus thinks it matters much that I am like him or not, but I do. The old story from the rabbis is probably apropo: when I am hauled up before God at the end of time, God isn't going to ask me why I wasn't more like someone else: I will be asked why I wasn't more like me. The rabbis tell the story better. I'm still a work in progress, as Renae will attest to. Finally, I just hope that something you read here will make you think. Use what you can, ignore the rest. Go read some of the desert saints. Read the classics. Take care of people, never point to yourself, and don't follow me: I'm just hoping to be one more signpost to God. And as one friend reminded me the week before I left Christmount, "It matters." Oh, and my favorite color is probably blue, and I love cats, and I love my wife's music. I don't like beets.
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