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Morning Devotion for the Season of Advent
December 20, 2024
Invitatory
Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, “I dwell in the high and holy place and also with the one who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
2 Peter 2:17-22
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved. For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with licentious desires of the flesh they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for people are slaves to whatever masters them. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb,
‘The dog turns back to its own vomit’,
and,
‘The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud.’
Meditation-Rebecca Northington
In how many novels or movies have you rooted for the protagonist to turn away from self destructive habits and towards the light? We wait in hope for them to choose the people and activities that keep them healthy and happy. I am thinking of two stories in particular. Beautiful boy with Steve Carell, which brutally examines the relationship between a father and son as the son fights a debilitating substance addiction. Each time he gets clean the audience is holding their collective breath in hope that he won’t falter. Only to have their hopes destroyed as he falls back into drug use that we are sure will lead to his death.
In Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series we are introduced to a most compelling character “Jack”, the prodigal son. Jack also fights addiction and self loathing, while we the reader see his beauty and light and desperately want him to find peace. His story is a seesaw of transcendence and fallen-ness. He rehabilitates and the story feels like it’s on the proper trajectory headed towards a happy ending. He stumbles and we find ourselves that much more despondent.
Peter’s letter points to just this roller coaster. “The dog turns back to its own vomit…The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud”. When we see a character find their best version it is heart wrenching to see them turn back to a life that corrodes their very core. Why do they do it? What is it about that life, or those circumstances that somehow offers them comfort-if only temporarily? Is it the fear that they are not worthy, and will one day fail themselves and God no matter how hard they work? Are they choosing to worship something else?
Yesterday morning during Bible study we discussed the fallen heroes of the Bible. Adam, David, Solomon, and Judas to name a few. We talked with the kids about what happens to these characters that causes them to falter and how we can, in our own lives, learn from their cautionary tales. We are all human. We will all battle sin. How do we continue to orient ourselves towards God and not gossip, fall prey to power, greed, jealousy, substances, money or material idols? Because as David Foster Wallace said “in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive”.
The Lord's Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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