Greetings Brethren. you may be thinking "where is 'I -A' ?"
Well, it was in my head, inspired yesterday when driving homes. And then, I got distracted. Which is easy to do this time of year. SO for today, I decided to move on to Weekday Two of Advent, which will focus on Not becoming Distracted by the Holiday sights and sounds.
As I was waking up and remembering that I did not post yesterday's devotional, I somehow thought of John Wesley, and his Methodical actions towards the Ministry. John Wesley, is of course, along with his brother Charles Wesley, are more or less the "founding fathers" of the Methodist movement. The term "Methodist" was coined by students at Oxford to describe John Wesley's "Methods" of sticking to a schedule in order to STAY FOCUSED and accomplish the daily work of Prayer, Scripture reading and charity. The Methodist movement was, in the United states, the largest denomination from the early 1800s up until the middle part of the 20th century. During the major events of the country, such as the Civil war, the World Wars, even to the time of the Koran War, the Methodist churches had the higest number of members. Wesley's teaching were very influential and still useful to this day.
Wesley liked to start his day with a prayer, followed by reading of the scripture. while he spent may times during the day reading the Bible, and using it as a basis for his sermons, He did have designated times at which he was to engage solely in Bible Study and these times were to be preceded and followed, always by prayer and mediation on the scripture.
As Wesley said
"All scripture is inspired of God -The Spirit of God not only once inspired those who wrote it, but continually inspires, supernaturally assists, those that read it with earnest prayer. Hence it is so profitable for doctrine , for instruction of the ignorant, for the reproof or conviction of them that are in error or sin, for the correction or amendment of whatever is amiss, and for instructing or training up the children of God in all righteousness ." sermon, circa 1738
So it was with homage to Rev Wesley that I thought about how diligent I used to be about studying my daily advent readings, as a spiritual preparation for Christmas, and how easily I was distracted yesterday. I have the devotional book, which points to specific scriptural readings, and expounds on the idea of preparing the heart to accept the Coming of Jesus. Oddly enough, this dates back to when I was 18 and had joined with and was worshipping with the Methodists. I grew up in a denomination that did not celebrate much of the good points of Christmas, as I liked to call them, In fact I never even knew what Advent was until I joined the Methodist church. Soon, I was practicing daily readings, mediations, using an advent wreath and having more profound mystical experiences on the nature of God and Life, those " Supernatural assistances" which come from the Holy spirit through prayer and reading of the scriptures.
So today, I had to step back, get up extra early, and adopt a "Method" for advent, which hopefully I can continue to some degree through next year.
In spiritual preparation for Christmas, I started with the suggested readings, but I also decided to work on a few of y own suggestion. It has become cliché and overused to hear the same readings year after year, the one's from Isiah ending with the ones in Luke,. not that they should be ignored, but as Christians we need to move beyond the basics and seek a deeper preparation for the coming of our Lord. And Advent is not just preparing to Celebrate Christ's Birth, but to prepare us to celebrate Christ's Coming !
I chose to start the Advent day with
1 Chronicles Chapter 16 Verse 8 to 13, reading and meditating as Wesley would have taught.
David's Song of Thanks
8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles and the judgments he uttered,
13 O offspring of Israel his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
I believe that of the Many things which we do in this busy season, we must seek The Lord and Constantly Seek His Presence .
With that, I though about how the Occupied Israelites must have felt at the time of Jesus' Birth, Being ruled by a Roman Magistrate and a King appointed by Caesar
I though of the oppression, the taxation without representation (something that would, in the 1700s help provoke a war for independence in America)
Not that there were not Wars in Those times. There were many. And the Israelites needed a Messiah, someone to free them and allow them to reestablish their Kingdom it was not a King, or a soldier or a Wealthy Aristocrat who came, but a lowly child, born in poverty, raised with the unskilled laborers, who would be the Messiah.
Certainly God works in mysterious ways, and meditating on the readings of the day showed me to be vigilant, but patient. The Israelites waited a long time for their Messiah to come. For some in the 21st century, we can hardly wait for Christmas. Let us learn patience, vigilance and Peace as we focus on the wonderous things to come Amen
Well, it was in my head, inspired yesterday when driving homes. And then, I got distracted. Which is easy to do this time of year. SO for today, I decided to move on to Weekday Two of Advent, which will focus on Not becoming Distracted by the Holiday sights and sounds.
As I was waking up and remembering that I did not post yesterday's devotional, I somehow thought of John Wesley, and his Methodical actions towards the Ministry. John Wesley, is of course, along with his brother Charles Wesley, are more or less the "founding fathers" of the Methodist movement. The term "Methodist" was coined by students at Oxford to describe John Wesley's "Methods" of sticking to a schedule in order to STAY FOCUSED and accomplish the daily work of Prayer, Scripture reading and charity. The Methodist movement was, in the United states, the largest denomination from the early 1800s up until the middle part of the 20th century. During the major events of the country, such as the Civil war, the World Wars, even to the time of the Koran War, the Methodist churches had the higest number of members. Wesley's teaching were very influential and still useful to this day.
Wesley liked to start his day with a prayer, followed by reading of the scripture. while he spent may times during the day reading the Bible, and using it as a basis for his sermons, He did have designated times at which he was to engage solely in Bible Study and these times were to be preceded and followed, always by prayer and mediation on the scripture.
As Wesley said
"All scripture is inspired of God -The Spirit of God not only once inspired those who wrote it, but continually inspires, supernaturally assists, those that read it with earnest prayer. Hence it is so profitable for doctrine , for instruction of the ignorant, for the reproof or conviction of them that are in error or sin, for the correction or amendment of whatever is amiss, and for instructing or training up the children of God in all righteousness ." sermon, circa 1738
So it was with homage to Rev Wesley that I thought about how diligent I used to be about studying my daily advent readings, as a spiritual preparation for Christmas, and how easily I was distracted yesterday. I have the devotional book, which points to specific scriptural readings, and expounds on the idea of preparing the heart to accept the Coming of Jesus. Oddly enough, this dates back to when I was 18 and had joined with and was worshipping with the Methodists. I grew up in a denomination that did not celebrate much of the good points of Christmas, as I liked to call them, In fact I never even knew what Advent was until I joined the Methodist church. Soon, I was practicing daily readings, mediations, using an advent wreath and having more profound mystical experiences on the nature of God and Life, those " Supernatural assistances" which come from the Holy spirit through prayer and reading of the scriptures.
So today, I had to step back, get up extra early, and adopt a "Method" for advent, which hopefully I can continue to some degree through next year.
In spiritual preparation for Christmas, I started with the suggested readings, but I also decided to work on a few of y own suggestion. It has become cliché and overused to hear the same readings year after year, the one's from Isiah ending with the ones in Luke,. not that they should be ignored, but as Christians we need to move beyond the basics and seek a deeper preparation for the coming of our Lord. And Advent is not just preparing to Celebrate Christ's Birth, but to prepare us to celebrate Christ's Coming !
I chose to start the Advent day with
1 Chronicles Chapter 16 Verse 8 to 13, reading and meditating as Wesley would have taught.
David's Song of Thanks
8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles and the judgments he uttered,
13 O offspring of Israel his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
I believe that of the Many things which we do in this busy season, we must seek The Lord and Constantly Seek His Presence .
With that, I though about how the Occupied Israelites must have felt at the time of Jesus' Birth, Being ruled by a Roman Magistrate and a King appointed by Caesar
I though of the oppression, the taxation without representation (something that would, in the 1700s help provoke a war for independence in America)
Not that there were not Wars in Those times. There were many. And the Israelites needed a Messiah, someone to free them and allow them to reestablish their Kingdom it was not a King, or a soldier or a Wealthy Aristocrat who came, but a lowly child, born in poverty, raised with the unskilled laborers, who would be the Messiah.
Certainly God works in mysterious ways, and meditating on the readings of the day showed me to be vigilant, but patient. The Israelites waited a long time for their Messiah to come. For some in the 21st century, we can hardly wait for Christmas. Let us learn patience, vigilance and Peace as we focus on the wonderous things to come Amen
