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It Isn’t Advent, But It’s a Great Pre-Christmas Tradition
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, December 6, 2008
For the past few days I’ve been weighing in on Advent, explaining it and recommending it for those who are seeking a closer relationship with God and a deeper experience of Christmas. Today I want to change gears and recommend another pre-Christmas tradition. This one isn’t especially Christian, and it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with Advent. But it’s one of my cherished traditions, one that helps me “get in the mood” for Christmas.
For the past ten years or so, I enrich my December with a reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This is a delightful, moving book, one that always touches my heart and helps me to be a more given person in the Christmas season. Strictly speaking, I don’t always read A Christmas Carol by sitting down and reading it with my eyes. Some years I listen to it on recording. I’ll say a bit more about that in a minute.
Most years, I also watch a DVD of some performance of A Christmas Carol. It’s fun to see the different performances and interpretations. I enjoy the 1999 version with Patrick Stewart and the 1984 version with George C. Scott. Throughout my lifetime, I’ve seen at least fifteen stage presentations of A Christmas Carol. But, still, I like reading the book (or listening to it). All dramatic performances have to leave out some of the details that enrich Dickens’ writing.
Now, I have three recommendations for your A Christmas Carol enjoyment. First, the basic story by Dickens can be enjoyed by a fairly young child. It’s simple and elegant. But if you read the book, you’ll find lots of language that is hard to decipher. Sometimes you’ll know the words, but not the reference (”Smoking Bishop,” for example). Sometimes the words will be unfamiliar (”griping”). Plus, even if you know what the words mean, your reading would be greatly enriched if you had more knowledge of Victorian England. This can be marvelously found in The Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose by Michael Patrick Hearn. This volume contains extensive commentary on the text of A Christmas Carol.
Second, if you want to enjoy A Christmas Carol in a different mode, listen to a good reading. You’ll notice things that you won’t get when you read the book with your eyes. There is an outstanding reading of the full book done by Jim Dale. An award-winning reader, Dale is best known for his masterful oral renderings of the Harry Potter books. I highly recommend this recording of Dickens’ masterpiece.
Finally, if you like a hot Christmas drink and aren’t averse to a bit of wine, I’d recommend that you enjoy your reading of A Christmas Carol while sipping a mug of Smoking Bishop. This curiously named drink appears in the Stave V of the book, after Scrooge’s transformation. He says to Bob Cratchit: “We will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!” You can find several different recipes online. Here’s the one I like. (If you don’t drink alcoholic beverages, you could easily adapt this recipe.)
So, I hope you find time in this busy season to enjoy the richness of A Christmas Carol. No “Bah humbug!” for you. Only “God bless us, everyone!”
Topics: Christmas | 2 Comments »
Is Advent Biblical?
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, December 5, 2008
Part 6 of series: Introduction to Advent
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Earlier in this series I mentioned the fact that many Protestant Christians reject Advent because they consider it to be a Roman Catholic practice. For most of these, it isn’t so much the Roman Catholic aspect of Advent that is truly problematic, but the fact that Advent is not taught in Scripture. You can’t turn to a place in the Bible and find teaching on Advent or a command to set aside four weeks prior to Christmas as a season of waiting, hoping, and yearning.
Does this mean we that biblically-oriented Christians shouldn’t observe Advent? For some, the answer is “yes.” If it’s not explicitly taught in Scripture, then Christians shouldn’t do it. You’ll find that kind of argument among non-instrumental Church of Christ believes, for example. Since instruments are not explicitly mentioned in the New Testament teachings about worship, then we shouldn’t use instruments today.
So what about Advent? Does its absence from Scripture mean we shouldn’t observe it?
If you buy that argument, then you must also abstain from Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter, which aren’t found in Scripture. You might as well throw out Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day, and Thankgiving too, since none of these are mentioned in Scripture. (I suppose you could find a way to derive Thanksgiving from the Jewish festival of Sukkoth (Tabernacles), though it wouldn’t fall on the fourth Thursday in November and it wouldn’t involve eating Turkey or watching football.) Moreover, if you really believe that Christians can only do that which is explicitly taught in Scripture, then you shouldn’t go a to church building for worship, or sit in pews or chairs, or use microphones, or wear pants, or use hymnals, or use digital projectors, or . . . . Honestly, I don’t know any Christian who actually lives consistently by the “I don’t do it if it’s not in Scripture rule,” though I admire the intent.
I believe that we are free in Christ to do many things that are not specifically taught in Scripture. To a certain extent, I agree with those who argue that if something is not prohibited in the Bible, then it’s okay for Christians. (Of course this argument has limits. I had a Christian friend in high school who used this argument to defend her use of marijuana, since it wasn’t mentioned in the Bible. The rest of my Christian friends and I were persuaded that the analogy of drunkenness applied to getting high on pot. Thus we believed marijuana use to be sinful.) Surely there is nothing in Scripture that prohibits one from observing Advent.
But I’m not concerned merely with whether Advent is not disallowed in Scripture. I want to know if observing Advent is consistent with biblical themes and priorities. Is Advent biblical in this grander sense?
I do believe it is. For a moment, forget about Advent itself, and answer the following questions:
• Is it a good thing for us Christians to set aside a special time in the year to focus more on God and grow in our relationship with him?
• Is it good for us to get in touch with just how much we need a Savior?
• Is it helpful for us to wait on the Lord and to learn to wait upon him more faithfully?
• Is it helpful to remember our hope in God and to be refreshed in that hope?
• Would it be a valuable thing in your life to be prepared to celebrate the true meaning of the Incarnation?
• Would you like to experience more of God’s peace and presence during the often hectic weeks prior to Christmas?
I think most biblically-oriented Christians would answer these questions in the affirmative. Does that mean we all should observe Advent? Of course not. We are free to do so or not to do so, according to our consciences and sense of God’s leading. But it’s not hard to see how Advent could be beneficial for most Christians. (Photo: I’m not actually expecting many people to imitate my Advent tree, with its purple lights and purple and pink ornaments. This tree was in my office at Irvine Presbyterian, and could be seen by thousands of people driving by each day.)
If you’re looking for biblical passages that express Advent themes, you might think of such texts as:
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD! (Psalm 27:14)For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. (Psalm 62:5-7)I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning. (Psalm 130:5-6)O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities. (Psalm 130:7-8)[T]hose who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40:31)I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Rom 8:18-25)
Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. (1 Peter 1:13)
The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev 22:20)
Of course then there are lots of biblical passages that focus even more specifically on Advent themes and hopes associated with the coming of the Messiah. You can find these in my Advent Devotional Guide.
So, though it’s correct to say that Advent itself is not taught in Scripture, and therefore Christians are free to observe it or not, it is equally correct to say that the emphases of Advent are thoroughly biblical. If the traditions of Advent help us to focus more on the Lord, to get in touch with our need for him, to replenish our hope, and to celebrate Christmas with greater meaning and depth, then I’m all fer it, as we say in Texas.
Topics: Advent | 6 Comments »
Sharing My Greatest Advent Discovery
By Mark D. Roberts | Thursday, December 4, 2008
Part 5 of series: Introduction to Advent
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Earlier in this series I spoke of discovering Advent. Of course I didn’t discover it in the way an explorer discovers a place no one has been before. Millions upon millions of Christians have observed Advent for centuries upon centuries. (Check this short history of Advent.) I’ve been a Johnny-come-lately. My discovery of Advent was more like when I find some fantastic natural oasis that’s been around for a long time, but, for some reason, I hadn’t ever visited.
What I want to write about today isn’t my discovery of Advent as an opportunity for growing in my relationship with God, but rather my accidental (providential?) discovery of one way to observe Advent that has made a huge different in my life.
It came in a most unlikely place . . . standing in line at Costco. Now you need to understand that I am terrible at waiting, especially in long checkout lines. A couple of days ago I was rushing to get a couple of items at the market. I picked a short “Ten items or less” line, hoping to buy my stuff and get going. Of course, the person in front of me wanted to use a gift card, but the gift card couldn’t be read electronically. The checker knew there was a way to enter the gift card number manually, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. So he had to call his manager. Five minutes later, I was still standing in that “short” line, watching other lines moving swiftly. My teeth were grinding and my stomach was churning. Mostly, I was mad at myself to picking the wrong line.
My impatience with slow checkout lines makes me an especially lousy Christmas shopper, because, almost by definition, Christmas shopping requires waiting in line. Whether you’re at a fine department store or just grabbing some chips from the local mini-mart, chances are you’ll be waiting in line during the month of December. And, if you’re like me, inevitably you’ll end up in the slowest line in the store. This sort of thing can just about ruin the Christmas season for me, because waiting makes me grumpy.
Okay, enough with the confession, now to the discovery.
A few years ago I was waiting in a long line at the Costco in Irvine, California. In spite of my best efforts to find the shortest line, of course I ended up in the slowest moving line of all. As I stood there, I could feel my blood pressure rising. The more I waited, the more frustrated I became. Words I never say (well, almost never) filled my mind, and I’m not referring to “Happy Holidays.” “Why do I always get in the slowest *^%#($ line?” I asked myself. “And why is this taking so *#^($& long?” I grumbled under my breath. (Photo: Waiting in line at Costco)
Then, all of a sudden, it dawned on me. I had one of those moments of grace, in which God managed to slip a word into my consciousness. As I stood in that slow-moving line at Costco, I was waiting. Waiting! In a way, I was experiencing exactly what Advent is all about. Of course I wasn’t waiting for God to save me or anything momentous like that. I was simply waiting to get out of that store so I could go home. But, nevertheless, I was waiting. I was forced to experience something that’s at the very heart of Advent.
So I decided, right then and there in the line at Costco, that I was going to use the experience of waiting in line while Christmas shopping as an Advent reminder. In that moment, and in similar moments yet to come, I was going to remember what Advent is all about. I was going to put myself back into the shoes of the Jews who were waiting for the Messiah. And I was going to remember that I too am waiting for Christ to return.
As I decided to let the experience of forced waiting be a moment of Advent reflection rather than a cause for getting an ulcer, I found my anger quickly drain away. Waiting in line at Costco became, not a trial to be endured, but a moment of grace. And get this: I even found myself thanking God for the chance to slow down a bit and wait. This was, indeed, a miracle.
By the time I got to check out, my heart was peaceful, even joyous. I felt as if I had discovered hiddent treasure. But I didn’t want to keep it hidden. The next Sunday I shared my discovery with my congregation at Irvine Presbyterian Church. In the days that followed, many of my flock told me how much their Advent had been improved by thinking of waiting in line, not as a curse, but as a potential blessing.
Honestly, I can still forget my commitment to use waiting in line as a time for Advent reflection. My gut instinct can take over. I can easily start clenching my fists as I think of how much time I’m losing. But then a gentle breeze from the Spirit will remind me of how waiting can enrich my life, rather than rob me of joy.
In the last few years, what I hate most about the days prior to Christmas – waiting in line – has become a quasi-sacrament, a time to experience God’s grace. If you’ve never tried this, it may sound to you as if I’ve lost my mind. This sounds even sillier than wearing purple in the weeks before Christmas rather than red and green. But let me encourage you to try it. By experiencing waiting in line not as a punishment, but as a opportunity to wait peacefully, you’ll find a bit of grace, hidden and ready to be discovered, much like a little picture behind one of those doors of an Advent calendar.
Topics: Advent | 3 Comments »
Growing Closer to God in Advent: Some Practical Suggestions
By Mark D. Roberts | Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Part 4 of series: Introduction to Advent
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So far in this series I’ve explained what Advent is and why I have found it helpful to observe Advent. If you’re at all convinced, you may wonder what to do about it. In this post and the next in this series I’ll outline some practical suggestions for how you might experience Advent.
Pay Attention to the Advent Content of Corporate Worship
If your church celebrates Advent, be ready to pay close attention to the readings, prayers, songs, and seasonal pageantry (like the lighting of the Advent wreath). Your intentionality in worship can infuse your whole life with Advent expectation.
Many churches, even if they don’t plunge into the spirit of Advent, nevertheless wade into Advent themes in their pre-Christmas worship. They use readings from the Old Testament prophets or sing Advent carols like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The more you pay attention to these Advent elements, the more your personal experience will be enriched.
If your church doesn’t acknowledge Advent, you may decide to talk with your pastor or worship leader about it. But, please, be kind and encouraging! Throughout my years as a parish pastor, I found it much easier to receive “Here’s something I find exciting!” than “Here’s what you’re doing wrong!”
Enjoy Advent Music
This isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, unfortunately. There are hundreds of popular Christmas songs and carols, played everywhere during Advent, from churches, to gas stations and shopping malls. There are comparatively few Advent songs, though many songs and carols do touch upon Advent themes of waiting, hoping, and yearning for God.
If you enjoy classical music, there are a few Advent albums available, including:
Advent at St. Paul’s. This is my current favorite of the bunch.
The first part of the so-called “Christmas portion” Handel’s Messiah is filled with Advent themes (from the beginning through “The People That Walked in Darkness”). This is probably the most readily available and familiar classical Advent music. My favorite recording of the Messiah is the Academy of Ancient Music version conducted by Christopher Hogwood.
I have found one more contemporary Advent CD. Actually, it combines Advent music with Lenten music. Prepare the Way of the Lord by David Phillips contains 18 instrumental tracks, half dedicated to Advent, the other half dedicated to Lent. This is a wonderful collection of music by an accomplished Christian pianist. You can purchase the CD from Amazon, or you can download an MP3 version from David Phillips’ website.
I listen to quite a bit of Christmas music in Advent, but try to stick with instrumental versions. Thus I save listening to sung Christmas carols for Christmas Eve and thereafter. This way I still have a sense of waiting even while listening to familiar carols.
Use an Advent Wreath in Your Home
You can get Advent wreath kits online or from most Christian bookstores. But you can easily make your own with a wreath (natural or artificial) and five candles. See this example of the Advent wreath in my home.
If you aren’t sure what to do with an Advent wreath, I’ve written a guide that you can access by clicking here. Feel free to adapt it as you see fit, or to use it in ministry settings.
Finally, if you want to experience a virtual lighting of the candles of the Advent wreath, you can visit my website each Sunday. Click here for last week’s online lighting.
Let Your Nativity Scene Function as an Advent Calendar
I have not done this before, but I have friends who do. They have nativity scenes with lots of characters. They time the setting up of their nativity scene so that they add one character each day, adding the Christ child on Christmas (or Christmas Eve). This can also be a wonderful family tradition that involves each member, especially younger children.
Dress for Advent
It’s common for people to wear Christmas colors throughout the month of December, so why not Advent colors? I used to do this when I led worship at Irvine Presbyterian Church, wearing a purple tie in the more traditional services and a purple sweater in the contemporary services.
Focus in Your Personal Devotions on Advent Themes
There are many texts, both in the Old Testament and New Testament, that express Advent themes. By reading and meditating on these passages you’ll enhance your Advent experience of God. Some possibilities for Advent Bible readings can be found in my Advent wreath guide.
Tomorrow I’ll add one more way to observe Advent. This I count as my greatest Advent discovery. Stay tuned . . . .
Topics: Advent | 4 Comments »
Why Advent?
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Part 3 of series: Introduction to Advent
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In my last post, I told the story of my Advent beginnings. When I started out as pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in 1991, for the first time in my life, I began to see Advent as a distinct season of the year and to experience its richness.
In the years following my Advent beginnings, my appreciation of Advent grew slowly and steadily. At some point I became aware of the purple and pink Advent color scheme, something we had not emphasized at Irvine Presbyterian Church. I remember when, sometime in the 1990s, we started using three purple and one pink candle in the church Advent wreath. It was a change for church members, who had been used to all white candles. But soon they appreciated the connotations of the colors. (Photo: The Advent wreath on the chancel of the sanctuary at Irvine Presbyterian Church)
I decided to go “whole hog” with Advent colors one year. I wore mostly purple ties during Advent. I put up an “Advent tree” in my office at church, which could be seen from the busy street in front of the church. I didn’t outlaw the use of Christmas colors in our sanctuary or anything like that, though our paraments on the communion table and pulpit were purple. I’m sure some folks thought I’d lost a few of my marbles in my zeal for Advent colors, but, for me, it was a chance to emphasize Advent in my personal life as well as in my ministry.
Why did Advent matter so much to me? Among many reasons, two stand out. First, I found that observing Advent enriched my celebration of Christmas. Taking four weeks to focus on the hope of Christ’s coming made me much more joyful when I finally got to celebrate it. The more I got in touch with my need for a Savior, the more I rejoiced at the Savior’s birth.
Second, I found in Advent a solution to the age-old problem of secular Christmas vs. spiritual Christmas. If you’re a Christian, you know what I mean. We recognize that Christmas is, most of all, a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It’s a holiday that focuses on the meaning of the Incarnation. Yet, given the secular traditions of Christmas, we spend most of our time preparing, not for a celebration of the birth of Jesus, but for fulfilling the demands of the season. We have to buy lots of presents for lots of people and make sure they are all wrapped and delivered. We have parties to attend and parties to host. We have relatives who come to visit or, alternatively, we are the relatives who go elsewhere to visit. This requires lots of planning, not to mention the nuts and bolts of holiday travel. We have to send out Christmas cards, making sure our addresses are right and that they get on all the envelopes. If we have younger children, we may very well spend hours trying to assemble gifts that come with sketchy instructions written by someone for whom English is, at best, a third language. And so on, and so on, and so on.
Meanwhile, we hear our Christian leaders telling us that we’re spending too much time and money in secular celebrations, and not focusing enough on the real meaning of Christmas. Religious posters proclaim: “Jesus is the reason for the season.” But, in fact, Jesus faces heavy competition from retailers, relatives, and revelers. So what’s a Christian to do?
In my idealistic twenties, I thought about downsizing my celebrations of Christmas. At one point I tried to convince some friends and family members that we should make Christmas an entirely “spiritual” holiday, one in which we focus only on the birth of Jesus. Not wanting to be the Grinch, however, I didn’t abandon secular festivities or gift giving. “Let’s do that stuff on New Year’s Eve,” I argued. “Not only is this holiday very close to Christmas, but also, if we give gifts on New Years, we’ll be able to shop in the post-Christmas sales, and that will save a lot of money.” Ah, what logic! But nobody was persuaded, least of all my family members. The secular and familial Christmas traditions were too embedded in our lives and, I might add, greatly loved. So I abandoned my effort to de-secularize Christmas.
As I entered my thirties, I tried to emphasize the Christian aspects of Christmas in the days leading up to the holiday. But I seemed to be fighting a losing battle. I needed some way to focus my mind and heart. And I needed some new traditions that would help me. Then I discovered Advent. For some reason, observing Advent during December helped me to draw near to God in a way that I had not been able to do before. I still engaged in the secular celebrations of Christmas, happily so, I might add. But I also added several new practices that tuned my heart to resonate with the deeper meaning of the coming of Christ.
I know that many others have had a similar experiences to mine. Since 2004 I have been blogging about Advent. During the past four years I have received dozens of emails from people who have shared their own excitement for Advent. Some have grown up with Advent traditions. Most have “discovered” Advent later in life, much as I did. All have found that observing Advent enriches their celebration of Christmas and allows them to have a precious, peaceful, God-focused experience during what is often a hectic holiday season.
In my next post I’ll describe some of the Advent practices that I have found to be most helpful.
Topics: Advent | 1 Comment »
Advent Beginnings
By Mark D. Roberts | Monday, December 1, 2008
Part 2 of series: Introduction to Advent
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In my last post in this series, I explained the timing and purpose of Advent, as well as its unexpected color scheme. I closed by noting that Advent is growing in popularity, especially among Protestant Christians who, in many cases, did not grow up with much awareness of Advent.
I fall into that category. Though, as I noted in my last post, I enjoyed paper Advent calendars in my youth, I did not think of Advent as a season of the Christian year. In fact, I had no idea that Christians even had a year with special seasons. At the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood where I grew up, we celebrated Christmas and Easter, and that was about it. The weeks of December prior to Christmas were Christmastime, not Advent.
When I was a teenager, Lloyd Ogilvie came as Senior Pastor of Hollywood Pres. He brought with him the tradition of using an Advent wreath in worship services prior to Christmas. Though we continued to sing Christmas carols and decorate the sanctuary with Christmas colors, Dr. Ogilvie did, however, speak of Advent as a season of preparation for Christmas. Still, I thought of Advent mostly as Christmas-lite, and not as a distinct season with distinct emphases. (Photo: First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood on Christmas Eve 2007)
While I was preparing for ordination in the Presbyterian Church, I took a course in “polity” (order) at Fuller Theological Seminary. The professor, Dr. Gary Demarest, lectured on a section of the Book of Order that focused on worship. In this lecture, he spoke with zeal about the “Church Year” and its various seasons. These included: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. Dr. Demarest talked excitedly about how the seasons of the Church Year could enrich the worship of a church as well as one’s private devotions. I had never heard anything like this. I was intrigued, but didn’t do much with what I learned at that time. I was serving on the staff at Hollywood Pres, where we continued to use an Advent wreath in our pre-Christmas worship services, but otherwise didn’t do much with Advent.
My first full exposure to Advent came when I began as Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in 1991. It all started with a complaint, of all things. Sometime in November, a member of the church came to me to let me know how unhappy she was that “Loren doesn’t let us sing Christmas carols until Christmas Eve.” I asked why Loren, our worship leader at the time, had this peculiar proscription. “Because he’s into Advent,” the woman explained. “He wants to sing only Advent songs during Advent.”
What I heard about Loren seemed odd to me for many reasons, partly because I could only think of two Advent hymns: “Come, Though Long Expected Jesus” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” It was hard to imagine four weeks of nothing but these songs, as wonderful as they may be.
When I talked with Loren, I learned that the complaint I had heard was only partly true. Apparently, in year’s past, Loren had virtually outlawed Christmas music during Advent. He reserved the beloved carols for Christmas Eve and the twelve-day season of Christmas that ended on January 6. But when many people in the congregation let Loren know how much they missed singing Christmas carols prior to Christmas, he relented. Now his plan was to start Advent with music that was Advent-themed, and slowly include Christmas carols in the Sundays prior to Christmas. A few carols, however, like “Joy to the World,” were reserved for Christmas Eve and thereafter. (This was ironic, because “Joy to the World” was not written as a Christmas carol. See my article in Worship Leader magazine.)
As I spoke with Loren, reassured that he wasn’t banning Christmas music altogether before Christmas Eve, I listened to his passion for Advent and the possibilities of our worship and devotional life being enriched by observing this season. I was excited by the potential, and eager to experience a more intentional and complete Advent season.
During my first Advent at Irvine Presbyterian Church, I did find it odd to sing relatively few Christmas carols before Christmas Eve. And I did find much of the Advent music to be unfamiliar. We did use the Advent wreath in worship, with its expressions of expectation and hope. Though I missed some of what I had always associated with the build up to Christmas, I found that Advent did indeed heighten my yearning for the coming of Christ, and it did indeed help me to experience Christmas in a deeper way.
Christmas of 1991, my first at Irvine Presbyterian Church, was the beginning of my becoming an Adventophile . . . an Advent lover.
Topics: Advent | 5 Comments »
Advent Devotion: The Lighting of the First Candle
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, November 30, 2008
Introduction to Advent?
If you’re looking for some basic material on Advent, I have done some extensive writing on the subject. Please check out the following resources:
What is Advent? An Introduction to Advent
My blog series covers the basics of Advent: its meaning, traditions, and spiritual purpose.
Advent Devotional Guide: Preparing for the Coming of Christ
This devotional guide is meant for individuals, families, groups of friends, or worshiping communities. It uses an Advent wreath, and contains Scripture readings, prayers, and basic explanations.
If the whole notion of the Christian or liturgical year, including Advent, is unfamiliar to you, you will find this series helpful.
Discovering Advent: How to Experience the Power of Waiting on God at Christmastime
My new e-book tells the story of my personal discovery of Advent, something Christians have been celebrating for centuries, but which has been a relatively new addition to my life. As I share my story, I explain the meaning, traditions, and purpose of Advent. I suggest ways you can grow closer to God in Advent as you wait upon him. I also deal with specific questions such as: Is Advent biblical? Discovering Advent also includes an Advent Devotional Guide for personal, family, or group worship.
Kindle edition – $2.99 · · · · · · Nook edition – $2.99
Advent Devotion for the First Sunday
This is an excerpt from my Advent Devotional Guide that uses the Advent wreath. If you have a real wreath, you can use it, either alone, or with others. If you don’t have a wreath, follow this guide, and you can “light” the Advent candle for today online. (I originally wrote this guide for families at Irvine Presbyterian Church.)
Introduction to Advent
Advent is a season of waiting, expecting, and hoping. Beginning four Sundays prior to Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve, Advent helps us to prepare for the coming, or “advent” of the Christ child at Christmas. (The word “advent” comes from the Latin word that means “coming.”)
For hundreds of years Christians have used an Advent wreath to inspire their hopes for the coming of Christ. By lighting candles and reading Bible verses, we are reminded about the meaning of Christ’s birth and become more excited about his coming in the past, in the future, and in our own lives.
There is no set meaning for the candles of the Advent wreath (except for the middle candle, which always signifies the birth of Jesus the Christ). Some wreaths use all white candles; others use three purple candles, one pink candle, and one white candle in the middle. The purple candles remind us of how serious and solemn God’s people have been in waiting for the Messiah. The pink signifies the joy of our waiting. The white is triumphant and celebrative because Christ is born.
What follows is a guide for personal worship that can accompany the lighting of the candles of the Advent wreath. You can do this on your own with a real Advent wreath. Or you can do this online by “lighting” the wreath through appropriate clicking. Or you can use this guide with your family, which might certainly include friends. All families are different, and I encourage you to adapt or to change what is suggested — or do something completely original. Parents will want to make changes to fit the developmental stages of their children.
Speaking of children, they have great expectations and hopes during Advent — usually associated with Christmas presents, Santa Claus, holiday celebrations, and so forth. Rather than discouraging these hopes (which is a “hopeless” task!), I would urge you to help your children get the “feel” of Advent by relating their hopes to biblical Advent themes.
I pray that this guide will help you prepare for the coming of the Christ child!
The Beginning of Week 1: We Remember the Meaning of Advent
Advent is a word that means “coming” or “visit”. In the Christian season of Advent we prepare for the “advent” of Christ at Christmas. Our preparation includes many things:
• We remember Israel’s hope for the coming of God’s Messiah to save, to forgive, and to restore them.
• We remember our hope for the second coming of Jesus.
• We remember our need for a Savior to save us from our sins.
• We prepare to welcome Christ at Christmas into our world . . . and into our hearts.
By lighting one candle each week of Advent, we help ourselves to get ready for the birth of Jesus. The candles have different meanings, each based upon the Bible. These meanings help us to understand how special the birth of Jesus is for us.
Today we focus on the coming of Christ as our Shepherd.
Prayer for God’s Help
Dear God, thank you for this season of Advent that helps us to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas. As we read the Bible and light a candle, may excitement for Christ’s coming burn in our hearts. Amen.
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Advent Approaches . . . .
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, November 29, 2008
Part 1 of series: Introduction to Advent
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Tomorrow is the first day of Advent. If you’ve been reading my blog for more than a year, you know that I generally make a big deal out of Advent. If you’re new to my blog, however, you may wonder why I bother. My goal in this post is to explain what Advent is. My next post in this series will make the case for taking Advent seriously.
When is Advent?
Advent is a Christian season that lasts for about four weeks. It begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve, thus there is some variation in its length. (If you’re unfamiliar with the idea of Christian seasons, you might find helpful a few pieces I’ve written: “Overview of the Christian Year,” “The Colors of the Christian Year,” and “The Christian Year and the Textures of Worship.”) I should mention that Eastern Orthodox Christians do not recognize Advent per se, but have a longer season that is rather like Advent. Their Nativity Fast begins in the middle of November and is a season for repentance and abstinence.
In our secular American celebration of Christmas, the Christmas season begins in the weeks prior to Christmas Day. Generally, this season starts in early December, though retailers have a bad habit of beginning Christmas in November (or even October). A couple of weeks ago, for example, I shopped in a J.C. Penney department store that was fully decked out for Christmas and was playing Christmas music non-stop while I shopped. Shame on them! In my rule book, you shouldn’t listen to Christmas music or turn on Christmas lights until after you’ve finished the Thanksgiving turkey . . . at the earliest.
What is Advent?
The Christian season of Christmas actually begins on Christmas Eve and lasts for twelve days, ending on January 6. (No, the twelve-day season of Christmas did not start with the song. It was the other way around.) The time before Christmas is Advent, a season of preparation for Christmas. Christians prepare for celebrating the birth of Jesus by remembering the longing of the Jews for a Messiah. In Advent we’re reminded of how much we also need a Savior, and we look forward to our Savior’s second coming even as we prepare to celebrate his first coming at Christmas. Indeed, the word Advent comes from the Latin word that means “coming” or “visit.” In the season with this name, we keep in mind both “advents” of Christ, the first in Bethlehem and the second yet to come.
If you’re unfamiliar with Advent, I expect it might feel odd to think of the weeks before Christmas as something more than Christmastime. For most of my life, Advent played very little role in my pre-Christmas consciousness. As a child, I did have Advent calendars, sturdy, decorative paper displays with 25 little “windows,” one of which I would open each day of December leading up to Christmas. My Advent calendar was a way to whet my appetite for Christmas, not that I needed much help to get ready for my favorite day of the year, mind you. I loved Christmas when I was young, partly because it celebrated the birth of Jesus, but mostly because it was a giant party in which I received lots of presents. In a sense, the Christian observance is a bit like my boyhood Advent calendars, though it has a much more serious purpose. It’s meant to get us ready, not for a present-opening party, but for a transformational celebration of the birth of Jesus.
What Colors Are Used in Advent?
There are a few other things about Advent that you might find odd if you’re unfamiliar with them. The strangest might be the Advent color scheme. We associate Christmas and the weeks leading up to it with typical Christmas colors: red, green, white, silver, and gold. Advent, on the other hand, features purple (or dark blue) and pink. The purple/blue color signifies seriousness, repentance, and royalty. Pink points to the minor theme of Advent, which is joy. The first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent are “purple/blue” Sundays. Only the third is a “pink” Sunday. The pink, joyful color reminds us that, even as Advent helps us get in touch with our sober yearning for God to come to us, we know that he did in fact come in the person of Jesus. Thus our minor-themed waiting has a grace note of joy mixed in. If you’ve seen a traditionally-colored Advent wreath will recognize the purple and pink colors of this season (with the central, white, Christ-candle for Christmas Eve/Day). But if you’re unfamiliar with Advent and happen to attend a church service in early December in a church that recognizes Advent, you might be startled to see lots of purple, a bit of pink, and no red or green. (Many churches combine the colors of Advent and Christmas, however, so visitors won’t be completely perplexed.)
Advent’s Growing Popularity
Advent doesn’t get much attention compared to Christmas, though interest in Advent is growing steadily in many churches. Some Protestants ignore Advent because it isn’t taught in Scripture, and because they associate it with Roman Catholicism. Secular culture ignores Advent because there isn’t much money to be made here. I suppose you might be able to make a few bucks selling purple and pink candles, but, still, this isn’t going to thrill most retailers.
I think there are lots of good reasons to pay more attention to Advent, however. I’ll begin to explore these in my next post in this series. That will come on Monday, however, because tomorrow will be an Advent devotional, featuring my online Advent wreath.
Topics: Advent | 6 Comments »
Thankful for the Beauty of God’s Creation
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, November 28, 2008
Wherever I have lived during my adult life, I’ve learned to be grateful for the beauty of that slice of God’s creation. When I lived in the Boston area, I loved the turning of the leaves in autumn and the sun shimmering on the Charles River in summer. Moving back to Los Angeles, I enjoyed the wild mountains of Southern California, which were only a short drive from where I lived. In Orange County, I was especially thankful to live only twenty minutes from Crystal Cove State Park, an undeveloped stretch of beach and seaside cliffs.
Now that we live in the Hill Country of Texas, I’m discovering new reasons to be thankful for God’s creation. Many of these are found at the H.E. Butt Foundation ranch where Laity Lodge is located. I’ve especially enjoyed the changing of the seasons as I’ve finished my first year in Texas. Below you’ll find three of my favorite sights:
The red leaves of a Spanish Oak across a scenic portion of the Frio River.
Translucent red leaves of a Spanish Oak in the Silver Creek valley.
The Cypress Trees along the Frio River as they turn red-brown in autumn.
For the extraordinary beauty of your creation, Lord, and for the opportunity to enjoy it, I give you thanks. Amen.
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Be Thankful in All Circumstances
By Mark D. Roberts | Thursday, November 27, 2008
Be thankful in all circumstances,
for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
On this Thanksgiving Day in the United States, I want to reflect on a verse from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians: “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (5:18). (Photo: “The First Thanksgiving” by Jennie August Brownscomb, 1914)
The Greek original of this verse calls us to give thanks “in everything” (en panti). This does not mean that we must give thanks for everything, as if everything, including evil, was from God. It does mean that even in the midst of suffering, even when we experience injustice, even when life isn’t working out as we wish, we can and should give thanks. We thank God for his good gifts. We thank him for being present with us in hard times. We thank him for using life’s struggles to draw us closer to him and make us more like him. We thank God that nothing is outside of his wise plan for our lives, even when we can’t understand that plan.
Why should we thank God? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 reveals that “this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ.” Giving thanks to God is what God desires for us. It’s a matter of obedience. We do it because God wants us to.
But we thank God, not only because it is right to do so, but also because through thanksgiving we receive abundant blessing. When we thank God, we remember all that he has done for us and feel glad. In thanksgiving we find security and peace of mind. Giving thanks opens our hearts to trust God more, so that we might be ready for new blessings. In gratitude, we savor life’s goodness, and therefore live to the fullest.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How have you been able to thank God in the midst of difficult times? For what are you most thankful today?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, first of all, I must confess that I don’t always obey this verse. I am thankful at times, but surely not in all circumstances. When things are hard, when life is scary and disappointing, it’s hard for me to give you thanks. When I look back upon difficult times, gratitude comes easily, because I can see you at work. But, in the moment of suffering or sadness, I often have a hard time giving thanks. Forgive me, Lord.
Help me to do what this verse encourages. May I be truly thankful in all situations. By your Spirit, remind me of your goodness when I’m in hurting or afraid. Make your presence known to me, Lord, so that I might offer you thanks.
On this day of Thanksgiving, may I join the chorus of thanks to you. For all you have given me, and most of all, for your love and grace in Jesus Christ, I thank you. Amen.
Daily Reflections from The High Calling.org
This devotional comes from The High Calling of Our Daily Work (www.thehighcalling.org). You can read my Daily Reflections there, or sign up to have them sent to your email inbox each day. This website contains lots of encouragement for people who are trying to live out their faith in the workplace.
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Questions and Answers on Spiritual Gifts
By Mark D. Roberts | Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Part 14 of series: Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ
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1. “I’m pretty new to this ’spiritual gifts’ stuff. How can I begin to experience spiritual gifts?”
If you’ve been a Christian for a while, even a short while, and if you’ve done any kind of ministry, you’ve probably already experienced spiritual gifts. You may not have known exactly what was happening, but you knew the Spirit of God was empowering you to do God’s work.
If you want to continue to experience God’s power in the form of spiritual gifts, do the following:
First, be open to everything the Lord wants to do in you and through you. Don’t limit God’s work by your past experiences or your fears.
Second, get plugged in to a group where you can grow in your ministry: a small group, Bible study, ministry team, etc.
Third, ask the Lord to guide you into ministry, and then step out in faith. Remember that gifts come as you need them for God’s service.
Fourth, as you serve the Lord, ask for whatever spiritual gifts you need. The Spirit will often give what you forget to ask, but asking in prayer is always advisable.
2. “I have lots of familiarity with spiritual gifts, but I’ve always thought about them with the ‘discover and use your gift’ model. I’m excited about the possibility of being gifted in new ways, but I don’t know exactly what to do with my older ways of thinking. How should I proceed?”
Perhaps the most important thing I should say here is that, in the end, precise definitions don’t matter. If they did, surely the Lord would have been clearer in the biblical teaching on spiritual gifts. If you are open to God, if you pursue love and, in that context, eagerly desire spiritual gifts, if you seek to build up the body of Christ, these things matter most of all.
As I noted above, what you “discovered” in the past was not “your spiritual gift” so much as how the Spirit had gifted you in the past. This pattern might very well point to how God is calling you into ministry. If, for example, you have been regularly given gifts of teaching, it’s reasonable to assume that you may be called to be a teacher. What you discovered before might indeed still indicate the primary focus for your ministry.
But notice I said “primary focus.” No matter what you have discovered previously, don’t let this limit what God might do through you in the future. If you are primarily a teacher, the Lord might still put you in places where other spiritual gifts are needed. I know several missionaries, for example, who have gone to Third World countries primarily to teach God’s word. As they come to love the people they teach, they also recognize their physical suffering from various diseases. Love leads these missionaries to pray for the sick, to seek spiritual gifts of healing. (Photo: A couple leaders from Irvine Presbyterian Church helping to build a fellowship hall for a small church in Mexico. I don’t know if there’s a spiritual gift of hammering, but in the context of such service God empowers people to minister to others.)
Some churches use diagnostic tests to help members “discover” their gifts so as to use them in ministry. This can be a helpful exercise, just so long as it is not used to put a cap on what the Spirit would do in anyone’s life or ministry. No matter what God has done in us previously, we should always “pursue love and keep on eagerly desiring” spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14:1).
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Spiritual Gifts and the Priority of Love
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Part 13 of series: Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ
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If you want to grow in your experience of spiritual gifts, Paul urges you to eagerly seek those gifts that build up the body of Christ. But, you’ll recall, that’s not all he says: “Pursue love,” he begins, and then “keep on eagerly desiring spiritual manifestations” (1 Cor 14:1, my translation). The Greek verb translated here as “pursue” connotes an aggressive search. It can also mean “hunt” or “chase after.” In other words, we must fix our sights upon love as a hunter upon a target, making every effort to love. With this motivation behind us, we should strive for spiritual gifts. If you seek to love people actively, spiritual gifts will follow. If you love the body of Christ, bits of grace will flow through you to build that body.
When I was at Irvine Presbyterian Church, we regularly prayed for those who were sick. Sometimes we saw amazing healings. Usually our experiences were less dramatic. But, no matter what the outcome, our job was to pray. God’s job was to do with our prayers as he saw fit. We prayed for each other, not only because it was our job as Christians, but also because we loved each other.
For example, I remember a time when a group of us came together between Sunday morning worship services to pray for a young woman named Amy. She was about to undergo serious surgery and we gathered to pray for her healing. As many people offered their intercessions, it was obvious to me that we were motivated by a deep love for Amy and her family. We poured out our hearts to God, eager for a spiritual gift of healing to be given. We weren’t concerned about getting some kind of spiritual buzz or demonstrating our miraculous powers. We simply wanted Amy to be healed and her family to be touched with God’s peace. We pursued love, and because we loved, we eagerly desired a spiritual gift.
Amy was not healed dramatically. What happened during our time of prayer wouldn’t have made good television. Amy’s surgery went well, better than expected. We’ll never know what the Holy Spirit did in her body as we prayed, or in the hours thereafter. But we do know that because we prayed in love, Amy felt loved, both by those who prayed for her and by the Lord. God’s work was done through that time of prayer and it was a blessed work. I don’t know whether the Spirit gave a gift of healing or not, but I do know that he ministered with power and we were privileged to be a part of it.
For many years of my Christian life I didn’t pray for people to be physically healed, or, at least I didn’t lay hands on them and pray as if God would actually do something. I was very good at praying for “the doctor’s hands” and for medicine to work wonders. I still am good at praying for these things. I believe God uses all means at his disposal to heal, including medical science. But I never used to pray for people to be healed because I believed that I didn’t “have the gift of healing.” I had heard about people who went to healing crusades led by Kathryn Kuhlman, who seemed by all accounts to “have the gift.” A friend of mine had been dramatically healed of a chronic back condition as he attended one of her meetings. I knew I wasn’t gifted like Kathryn Kuhlman, so I didn’t pray for miraculous healings.
In the 1980s my theology of spiritual gifts underwent the shift I mentioned above. I realized that, as a Christian filled with the Spirit, I could minister in all of the gifts, at least in principle. At that time I joined the staff of my home church, Hollywood Presbyterian. I watched as the pastors and elders, few of whom would claim to have “a healing ministry” in the Kathryn Kuhlman sense, faithfully laid hands on the sick and prayed for their healing.
One of my closest friends was an Associate Pastor named Scott. He was a fireball for healing, praying for people every day. You might suppose that Scott was simply naive, a young pastor who got a bit too excited about the biblical promises of healing. But this supposition couldn’t be further from the truth. Even though he was only in his late twenties, Scott was a cancer survivor. He had suffered greatly. He knew the pain of praying for healing and hearing God’s “no.” He knew that God works through doctors, surgeries, and medicines. Yet because Scott trusted the Bible, and because he loved people, he couldn’t help but pray for their healing. He pursued love and eagerly desired the spiritual gifts. As I hung out with Scott, I was drawn along to pray for that which had always seemed far beyond the range of my giftedness. It was exciting. It was scary. Sometimes it was joyous. Sometimes it was heart-wrenching. But always it was stepping out in faith to do pursue love.
One day a woman named Maria came to Hollywood Pres seeking financial assistance. She was a single mother who was the sole support for her family. But Maria had begun to struggle with a mysterious physical condition that covered her legs with debilitating, painful sores. She was so poor that she couldn’t get appropriate medical assistance. A doctor in a clinic had told Maria that an operation might help her, but she couldn’t begin to afford it. Her physical condition deteriorated to the point where she lost her job. She came to the church to get financial help for her family and perhaps some money for pain-killers. The church was able to provide her with some financial assistance, but her problems seemed overwhelming, so far beyond what we could handle. (Photo: The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood)
Before Maria left, I asked if I could pray for her. My wife Linda was nearby, so the two of us sat with Maria, laid hands on her, and began to pray. As we interceded for Maria, we both felt powerful love for her, great compassion for her suffering. We prayed for her finances, for her family, and especially for her legs to be healed. After we finished praying, Maria said she felt deeply moved. She knew that God loved her in a way she had never known before. Linda and I were glad, but a bit disappointed that God didn’t do something to heal Maria’s legs. That was the last I ever saw of Maria.
Three months later I received a phone call at church. “This is Maria,” the voice said, “I am calling to thank you.”
“Maria? Maria?” I repeated, trying to place the voice. “I am so sorry, but I don’t remember who you are.”
“Oh,” she said, “I’m the one with those terrible leg sores. Don’t you remember that you and your wife prayed for me?”
“Of course I do. I’m sorry I forgot your name.”
“I’m back at work now,” Maria continued, “and I wanted to thank you.”
“You are certainly welcome,” I said, “but we didn’t do much at all. We gave you some money for your medicine, but that’s about it. I wished we could have done more.”
“Oh, you did to more. Don’t you remember? You prayed for me, to be healed. Remember? I’m calling because your prayer worked. Very soon after I left your church my legs began to get better. They kept on getting better. In a few days I could return to work. Now I’m just fine. God healed my legs completely. I want to thank you for praying for me.”
To this day I marvel over that whole experience. What a joy to be used by God in such a special way! That time of prayer for Maria serves as a paradigm for my ongoing ministry in the Spirit. My job as a Christian, not just as a pastor, is to love people. If they are suffering, that love translates easily into prayer. If they are sick, I seek a gift of healing. The results are usually not as dramatic as Maria’s, but that’s not my responsibility. You and I can’t guarantee what the Spirit will do when we step out to minister, but if we love, if we make ourselves available, and if we pray, God’s work will be done. People will be healed, saved, and loved. The body of Christ will be built up. And you and I will have the joy of being used by God in his marvelous work of grace.
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Practical Instruction on the Use of Spiritual Gifts, Part 5
By Mark D. Roberts | Monday, November 24, 2008
Part 12 of series: Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ
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Yesterday I began commenting on the closing verses of 1 Corinthians 14:
So, brothers and sisters, keep on eagerly desiring to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But let all things be done decently and in order (1 Cor 14:39-40, my translation)
This verse teaches us to allow the exercise of all spiritual gifts. It does not, however, endorse a chaotic, unedifying display of such gifts. Thus, Paul corrects a misunderstanding of spiritual experience that was common among the Corinthians, and is sometimes found today. Following the lead of their culture, some of the Corinthian believers thought that genuine spirituality always took the form of ecstasy, spontaneity, and even pandemonium. Paul shows, on the contrary, that the power of the Spirit is not something that leads to uncontrolled excess. Rather, the gifting of the Spirit is something that we can and should express in a calm, ordered, and sane way. Just because the Holy Spirit is empowering you, that’s no justification for interrupting a meeting or disrespecting appropriate leadership. You must express that which the Spirit gives you in a way that helps those gathered, or you should just keep quiet (1 Cor 14:26-33).
I know some Christians who believe that the work of the Holy Spirit must always be unplanned and spontaneous. “Lord, do something in our worship service today that we have not planned,” they pray. Now, I’d never want to limit the Spirit’s ministry, and I’d be willing to let God interrupt my carefully wrought plans for a worship service. But, rather than pray only for the Spirit’s interruption of the planned service, I pray, first of all, for his leading in the midst of my planning. I prayed this way when I was pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, and I continue to pray this way when I plan worship for Laity Lodge. My hope is that what I plan for worship already reflects the guidance of the Spirit, and doesn’t need unplanned surprises in order to fulfill God’s intentions. Genuine spirituality and the power of the Spirit are fully consistent with orderly, decent, well-planned gatherings. If our planning is so rigid that it quenches the Spirit, then let the Spirit explode our plans. But may God help our planning and our order to reflect his will so that his church may be edified!
I realize that most of my readers are not planning worship services, so let me relate Paul’s counsel to your situation. You may feel nervous about certain spiritual gifts because you associate them with disorder and inappropriateness. The year before I arrived at Harvard, a Christian undergraduate walked into the Faculty Club in the middle of a busy lunch hour. In a loud voice, he began speaking in tongues. Nobody could understand him, of course, but they listened in stilted silence. After a couple of minutes the student stopped and walked out. When I heard about this event during my freshman year, it certainly didn’t encourage me to be open to unfamiliar spiritual experiences! In retrospect, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Holy Spirit did not lead that young man to interrupt the Faculty Club with an unintelligible message in tongues. The event was not edifying for anyone and it was quite disorderly. Without a doubt the Spirit will sometimes lead us to do daring and scary things, but they will not violate the biblical principle of “decently and in order.” Though you can’t be sure what the Spirit wants to do with you in the future, you can be confident that you will not be led into silly displays of immature spirituality. (Photo: Harvard Faculty Club)
Scripture urges you to be open to everything the Spirit would do in and through you. Eagerly desire those gifts that most obviously build up the body of Christ, and don’t forbid the exercise of any particular gift. Find ways to express your gifts that respect the ethos of your Christian community. Some churches make time in public worship for individual members to exercise spiritual gifts. Most do not. If your church does not, join a smaller fellowship group or ministry team where you can let the Spirit work through you to for the sake of others.
Moreover, remember that the Spirit is with you to empower you for ministry, not just in the gathering of the saints, but also as you’re in the world. Whether you’re at work or a school, whether you’re coaching soccer or visiting a friend in the hospital, you are a minister of Jesus Christ. He will use you for his purposes if you are available. And he will empower you through his Spirit to do his ministry with supernatural power.
But our focus should never be upon our spiritual gifts or our experiences. I’ll have more to say about this in my next post in this series.
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Autumn in the Texas Hill Country, Part 4
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, November 22, 2008
A ranch in the Hill Country, not too far from Vanderpool. The “cattle” you see are actually American Bison (buffalo).
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Practical Instruction on the Use of Spiritual Gifts, Part 4
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, November 21, 2008
Part 11 of series: Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ
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So far we’ve been learning from 1 Corinthians 14 how to use spiritual gifts in ministry. All of us need to focus on loving and on building up the body of Christ. Each one of us needs to be open to the Spirit, ready to be empowered to do the ministry of Christ, whether we’re in a church gathering or out in the world.
I expect that some of my readers will be unsettled by this discussion of spiritual gifts. When I speak of many people exercising their gifts in the regular gathering of believers, you might envision some sort of free-for-all, an off-putting ecstatic display. Historically, in fact, Christians who have been open to the Spirit have sometimes distinguished themselves as “holy rollers,” whose gatherings have been distressingly chaotic.
But this is not consistent with Paul’s vision in 1 Corinthians 14. He wraps up his counsel to the Corinthians as follows:
So, brothers and sisters, keep on eagerly desiring to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But let all things be done decently and in order (1 Cor 14:39-40, my translation)
For reasons already given, Paul again urges the Corinthians to strive to prophesy. Delivering God’s word to a congregation dynamically strengthens it.
From a human point of view, it must have been tempting for Paul to forbid speaking in tongues. This prohibition would have quickly solved the problems in Corinth. But the apostle knew that the sovereign Spirit gives all gifts according to his will, and that forbidding the use of any gift would be tantamount to quenching the Spirit. The same is true for us. As a fairly traditional Presbyterian, I am not particularly comfortable with the thought of certain spiritual gifts being exercised in my church. Moreover, I am well aware of theological arguments – many developed by my Presbyterian ancestors in the last two centuries – that would equip me to claim that we should never exercise certain gifts, like speaking in tongues. But the more I study Paul’s teaching about spiritual gifts, the less I am willing to use my personal hesitations and theological constructions to limit the freedom of the Holy Spirit. If Scripture says “do not forbid speaking in tongues,” that’s good enough for me. (Photo: Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield of Princeton University was a leading advocate of the view that miracles, including spiritual gifts, don’t happen anymore.)
Given Paul’s blunt advice, “do not forbid speaking in tongues,” it seems curious to me that some Christians today do this very thing. Through rather convoluted arguments, they try to show that speaking in tongues was a gift only for the earliest Christians. Those of us beyond the first century, they argue, should not expect to speak in tongues because the time for the exercise of this gift has passed. Over the years I have studied these arguments extensively. Generally they depend upon a passage from 1 Corinthians 13 that reads:
Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will cease. If there are tongues, they will stop. If there is knowledge, it will cease. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the “in part” will cease (1 Cor 13:8-10, my translation)
Clearly, the time will come when certain gifts, like speaking in tongues, will cease. But when is that time? According to Paul, it is the time when the “in part” dimension of human existence comes to an end. He makes it clear exactly when this will happen in verse 12: “Now we see through a mirror in a riddle, then we will see face to face. Now we know in part, then we will know fully even as we have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:12, my translation). When will we see God face to face? When will we know him even as we have been fully known by him? When we stand in his presence. When Christ returns, and the “perfect” age begins. Then we will share direct, intimate fellowship with God forever. There will be no need for prophecy or tongues. Even our knowledge, impartial as it is, will pass away.
But, until that time, we need all the help we can get from the Spirit. We need every single bit of grace the Spirit offers. All spiritual gifts can function today if the Spirit chooses to use them. I want to be open to all the gifts God would give, even those I’m not especially interested in experiencing. And I want my church to be open as well. I’ll trust God with the outcome.
If the “do not forbid speaking in tongues” part of 1 Corinthians 14 makes Presbyterians uncomfortable, the closing phrase gives us exuberant joy: “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor 14:40). Oh, how we love this verse! I’ve heard this verse quoted in Presbyterian gatherings more than any other verse of Scripture, by far. Unfortunately, we rarely read it in context. “All things” in this passage means “all spiritual gifts.” The phrase does not refer to committee meetings, but to manifestations of the Spirit’s power. Paul says: “Let prophesying happen. Let healing happen. Let teaching happen. Let speaking in tongues happen. Let all these things and more be done, but decently and in order.”
Next week I’ll have more to say about these verses and their implications.
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