The Blessing of Belonging in a Family

Even though Christmas has passed and a New Year is on its way, I can't help but reminisce about this past week. You see...I've lived over 23 years with one of God's greatest gifts - the blessing of a family. This past Monday, I picked my brother up at the SF airport and spent Christmas eve with my fiance's family in Stockton. On Christmas day, my brother and I drove to Oakland to enjoy a family gathering with our relatives: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and a newborn baby!

As I continue reading through Psalms, I skipped ahead this week to read Psalm 68 where we see God's heart for families. In Psalm 68:6, we see that God care for the lonely and the hurting. God provides homes for the homeless. This tells me that God is not a far off deity. He is not oblivious to people. He is not calloused to the cries of His people. He is not blind to our needs. No...our God cares for people. He hears every crying baby, child, woman, and man. He sees our poverty, sickness, and hurt. And God provides for the lost, the homeless, and the poor.

I want to share multiple Bible translations of the Psalms 68:6 so we can see the rich beauty of this passage:

Psalm 68:6 NIV (New International Version): God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

Psalm 68:6 ESV (English Standard Version): God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Psalm 68:6 CSB (Holman Christian Standard): God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a scorched land.

Psalm 68:6 KJV (King James Version) God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Psalm 68:6 NKJV (New King James Version): God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Psalm 68:6 MSG (The Message): God makes homes for the homeless, leads prisoners to freedom, but leaves rebels to rot in hell.

So this year, I am grateful for having my family, my loving family, my wonderful family...And am also excited to start a family of my own very soon. In almost exactly 8 months, I will be married to my college sweetheart. My prayer is that in this holiday season we thank God for giving us a family to help us through the loneliness, the pain, and the suffering that we call life. Most of all, I hope you join me in praising God for giving us a precious gift - the blessing of belonging in God's family and our earthly families as well.

God is our Savior, Helper, and Deliverer!

I'm inspired this morning to write this blog post as I read Psalm 54 and listened to God, You are My God by One Sonic Society. From the book of Genesis, God reveals himself as the Creator God, the Mysterious God, the All-Powerful God. And as we go into the prophets and judges, God shows himself as the God of Justice, the God of Holiness, and the God of History. In Psalm, David gives us another intimate facet of God's character. God is our Savior, Helper, and Deliverer!

This morning, I hope we can recognize how God deeply cares for us. If you read Psalm 54 and listen to One Sonic Society's great new song. I pray that your heart and mind will also sing "God, You Are My God". No praise can define our God. No light can outshine our God. There is no one like our God!

Psalm 54:1-7:

"Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.

Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me— people without regard for God.[c]

Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy them.

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good. You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes."

God, You Are My God by One Sonic Society:

No praise can define You No thought can contain You God No other one is Holy No other one is robed in righteousness

God You are my God Glorious Glorious

No light can outshine You No power can defeat You God No other one is Holy No other one is high and lifted up

God You are my God Glorious Glorious God You are my God Victorious Victorious

From the dawn of time You reign To the end of days You're the God who saves Sing

All the earth will shout Your praise You will never change You're the God who saves Sing

A prayer for victims in Newtown, Conneticut

So often it takes a tragedy to bring about self-reflection and transformation...Last Friday the second worst shooting in US history took place in Newtown, Connecticut. 28 people died, 20 of them who were elementary age children. There is no sufficient response to comfort those who are going through the burial, mourning, and grieving process. However, I read this prayer today from Max Lucado which offers a ray of light in the dark hours of such a terrible loss. I want to share it with you here:

Dear Jesus,

It's a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.

These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.

The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?

Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod's jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.

Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.

Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won't you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.

This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.

Hopefully,
Your Children

Max Lucado

Mount Zion: The Mountain of God

Psalm 48:1-3: Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon[b] is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

In my devotional reading today, I meditated on Psalm 48. It is a beautiful passage that describes God abiding with His people in Mount Zion. As I did more background research, I learned that unlike many other "mountains of gods" like Olympus, Zaphon, or Kythnos. Mount Zion in comparison seems how should I best say it...unspectacular. All the other "mountains of gods" are thousands upon thousands of feet tall with snowy summits and craggy peaks. They are mysterious and majestic and dangerous to climb. However, Mount Zion is not really that impressive compared to other mountains. In fact, its more like a hilltop inside of Jerusalem. In fact, its only about 2,000 feet above sea level and not nearly as grandiose as the giant "mountains of gods" that were previously mentioned. So what is special about Mount Zion then?

The word "Zion" in the Bible is almost always a symbolic metaphor to describe the "kingdom of God coming soon". Zion was the symbol and picture of God's dominion and kingship over the whole earth. The presence of God in a human city of Jerusalem was proof of God's covenant between God and Israel as well as the rest of the world. Thus, in many ways, I am thankful that God did not choose a Mount Olmpus or Zaphon as His Holy place. Rather than remain a remote and mysterious, God chose to be "Immanuel" who is "God with us". God chose to be born in a humble manger, live with us, walk with us, and show us the way to spend eternity with Him if we choose to do so!

Psalm 48:9-15: Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness. Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments. Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

The History and Purpose of Advent

As our church is beginning the season of Advent, where we look ahead to the coming of Christ by celebrating His birth and eagerly await His second coming. I thought this article was a simple but great reading to learn more about Advent. Together, may we set aside extra time this Christmas season and seek God in prayer, fasting, and worship as we go through Advent together!

"What Is Advent? For many Christians unfamiliar with the liturgical year, there may be some confusion surrounding the meaning of the Advent season. Some people may know that the Advent season focuses on expectation and think that it serves as an anticipation of Christ’s birth in the season leading up to Christmas. This is part of the story, but there’s more to Advent.

The History of Advent: The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia. Scholars believe that during the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians at the January feast of Epiphany, the celebration of God’s incarnation represented by the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1–2), his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (John 1:29–33), and his first miracle at Cana (John 2:1–11). During this season of preparation, Christians would spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and fasting to prepare for this celebration; originally, there was little connection between Advent and Christmas.

By the 6th century, however, Roman Christians had tied Advent to the coming of Christ. But the “coming” they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming in the manger in Bethlehem, but his second coming in the clouds as the judge of the world. It was not until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was explicitly linked to Christ’s first coming at Christmas.

Advent Today: Today, the Advent season, which begins on the Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd, lasts for four Sundays leading up to Christmas. At that time, the new Christian year begins with the twelve-day celebration of Christmastide, which lasts from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6.

Advent symbolizes the present situation of the church in these “last days” (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2), as God’s people wait for the return of Christ in glory to consummate his eternal kingdom. The church is in a similar situation to Israel at the end of the Old Testament: in exile, waiting and hoping in prayerful expectation for the coming of the Messiah. Israel looked back to God’s past gracious actions on their behalf in leading them out of Egypt in the Exodus, and on this basis they called for God once again to act for them. In the same way, the church, during Advent, looks back upon Christ’s coming in celebration while at the same time looking forward in eager anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people. In this light, the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” perfectly represents the church’s cry during the Advent season:

O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appears. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

While Israel would have sung the song in expectation of Christ’s first coming, the church now sings the song in commemoration of that first coming and in expectation of the second coming in the future.

Advent Liturgy and Practice: To balance the two elements of remembrance and anticipation, the first two Sundays in Advent (through December 16th) look forward to Christ’s second coming, and the last two Sundays (December 17th – 24th) look backward to remember Christ’s first coming. Over the course of the four weeks, Scripture readings move from passages about Christ’s return in judgment, to Old Testament passages about the expectation of the coming Messiah, to New Testament passages about the announcements of Christ’s arrival by John the Baptist and the Angels.

While it is difficult to keep in mind in the midst of holiday celebrations, shopping, lights and decorations, and joyful carols, Advent is intended to be a season of fasting, much like Lent, and there are a variety of ways that this time of mourning works itself out in the season. Reflection on the violence and evil in the world cause us to cry out to God to make things right—to put death’s dark shadows to flight. Our exile in the present makes us look forward to our future Exodus. And our own sinfulness and need for grace leads us to pray for the Holy Spirit to renew his work in conforming us into the image of Christ.

One catechism describes Advent spirituality beautifully: “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’”

Advent and the Christian Life: While Advent is certainly a time of celebration and anticipation of Christ’s birth, it is more than that. It is only in the shadow of Advent that the miracle of Christmas can be fully understood and appreciated; and it is only in the light of Christmas that the Christian life makes any sense. It is between the fulfilled promise of Christ’s first coming and the yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of his second coming that Karl Barth penned these words: “Unfulfilled and fulfilled promise are related to each other, as are dawn and sunrise. Both are promise and in fact the same promise. If anywhere at all, then it is precisely in the light of the coming of Christ that faith has become Advent faith, the expectation of future revelation. But faith knows for whom and for what it is waiting. It is fulfilled faith because it lays hold on the fulfilled promise.” The promise for Israel and the promise for the church is Jesus Christ; he has come, and he will come again. This is the essence of Advent."

Written by Justin Holcombis a pastor at Mars Hill Church, where he serves as Executive Director ofthe Resurgence and the Leadership Development department. Original article from Christianity.com.