⁴The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. ⁵The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. ⁶I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. ⁷The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; ⁸he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. ⁹It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31: 9-16

⁹Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.
¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.
¹¹I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
¹²I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
¹³For I hear the whispering of many— terror all around!— as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
¹⁴But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
¹⁶Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.

Philippians 2:5-11

⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Mark 15: 1-47

As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ²Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” ³Then the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” ⁵But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

⁶Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. ⁷Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. ⁸So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. ⁹Then he answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. ¹²Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³They shouted back, “Crucify him!” ¹⁴Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” ¹⁵So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

¹⁶Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. ¹⁷And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. ¹⁸And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. ²⁰After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

²¹They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. ²²Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). ²³And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

²⁵It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” ²⁷And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. ²⁹Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰save yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. ³²Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

³³When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

⁴⁰There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

⁴²When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!
²Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
²⁰This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
²¹I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
²²The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
²³This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
²⁵Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
²⁶Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.
²⁷The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.
²⁹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Mark 11:1-11

³¹The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 51: 1-12

¹Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
³For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
⁴Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
⁶You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Hebrews 5:5-10

⁵So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; ⁶as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” ⁷In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; ⁹and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

¹⁰having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

John 12:20-33

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

20Then God spoke all these words: ²I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³you shall have no other gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. ⁷You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. ⁸Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

¹²Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹³You shall not murder. ¹⁴You shall not commit adultery. ¹⁵You shall not steal. ¹⁶You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Psalm 19

¹The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
²Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
³There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
⁴yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
⁵which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
⁶Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its heat.
⁷The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
⁸the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes;
⁹the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.
¹¹Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
¹²But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.
¹³Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great
transgression.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

¹⁸For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

John 2:13-22

¹³The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

17When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Psalm 22: 23-31

²³You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
²⁵From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
²⁶The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!
²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
²⁸For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
²⁹To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
³⁰Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
³¹and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

Romans 4:13-25

By Brian Burkholder, EMU Campus Pastor

Brian Martin Burkholder, EMU Campus Pastor

Scripture: Luke 2:1-19

Most of us trudge through the ordinary of our lives. Although we complain about it from time to time, we like routine, we find comfort in predictability, we value being oriented to our surroundings. There’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, one could say it’s normal (as normal as normal can be).

In Luke 2:1-19, the shepherds were simply going about their lives. Ordinary for them was living in the fields keeping watch over their flock. This is what they did day and night, night and day. There was no doubt a level of comfort in it for them – amidst the drudgery. But imagine the shock factor when an angel of the Lord broke through this ordinary existence and stood among them! The text says the Shepherds were terrified and I believe it.

What is it that breaks through our ordinary?

Thankfully the angel offered the shepherds an explanation of the coming of a Savior, the Messiah Christ, the Lord (this might have shocked them as well) – and, after also hearing from a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, their curiosity got the best of them. Ordinary was a thing of the past – at least for now.

I fear sometimes that I’ve become so complacent in living the ordinary that I’m blind to that which has potential to break in. My focus is more on the tasks at hand than on expectantly watching and listening – expecting a message from the Divine to shine forth. It’s true that the shepherds were not expecting a Divine appointment on that night. That said, when the angel appeared, the shepherds didn’t miss or dismiss it. They took notice and took action!

Perhaps God’s messages to us are not so bold? Or could it be that we’re just that preoccupied with the ordinary of life to take notice?

I want to live life expecting to hear from God. I want to be on watch for angels of the Lord. I want to receive Divine messages from the music of heavenly hosts. Perhaps it’s as simple as orienting ourselves to expect such things? Such is the advent journey.

Carmen Schrock-Hurst, Co-Pastor Immanuel Mennonite Church

By Carmen Schrock-Hurst
Instructor of Spiritual Formation at EMU
Co-pastor Immanuel Mennonite Church

Scripture: Luke 1:39-56

Twenty years ago when I unpacked the family heirloom nativity set my three year old daughter Grace begged to be allowed to play with the baby Jesus. Lacking parental wisdom at the moment I said she could if she was careful. Naturally it didn’t take her very long to lose baby Jesus.

The two of us spent a lot of time that week turning the house upside down looking for Jesus. And at church on the second Sunday of Advent when the children were asked what they had done in their house to get ready for Christmas Grace eagerly announced, “Well, we’ve already lost baby Jesus.”

Over the next weeks Grace and I frequently had a conversation about where the little Jesus might be and I would assure her if we kept looking we would eventually find him. And she would say through her tears, “but when mommy, when will we find Jesus?”

Suddenly one morning it dawned on me, that perhaps that question is really the cry of our Advent hearts. “When will we find Jesus?” And maybe, earnest searching is what Advent is really supposed to be about. Maybe this is the time of year we are called to get down on our hands and knees and shine flashlights into the remote, dusty, cob-webbed corners of our lives searching for our promised Savior.

Indeed Jesus is everywhere, we just have to look. Indeed our gospel reading commands us to watch and to be alert, to look for signs of God and our Isaiah reading from the first week of Advent teaches us that when the awesome God does act it is often in unexpected ways. And so it was that the little manger scene Jesus was found 20 years ago, just in time for Christmas, under the corner cupboard in the dining room, right where we had thought we’d looked dozens of times.

He was there, all along, but we missed him somehow. Maybe our eyes weren’t really open. Maybe we weren’t calling his name or striving to lay hold of him. Maybe the timing wasn’t right yet. All I know is that there was rejoicing in finding God in an unexpected place and time.

And that is my goal for Advent this year. To watch and to wait and to prepare so that when Jesus acts in the world around me I will recognize him. I hope you join me on the journey.

Laura Lehman Amstutz, Eastern Mennonite Seminary

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-24

This story of Joseph is a challenge to move beyond our rights and instead participate in God’s work in the world.

Joseph would have been well within his rights to not only divorce Mary, but to stone her, if he chose.

When I imagine Joseph, I imagine a quiet, strong man, who has a deep sense of right and wrong. He was what we would call a religious person. He is described as righteous, which meant he followed all the Jewish laws. He was a son of David, with a long and proud heritage. Rather than publically humiliate Mary for what looks like a pre-marital indiscretion he makes plans to privately break their engagement. He was not doing anything wrong; in fact he was choosing a compassionate route.

And yet God breaks in and invites him to do even more.

And Joseph’s life is changed forever. He goes from doing what is within his right, to doing the will of God.

God did not need humans to participate in bringing about Emmanuel, God with us. I’m sure that God could have found a way to bring salvation that did not require the willing participation of humans. And yet God chooses to involve humans in this miracle.

I wonder sometimes if I do what is right or righteous (as Joseph’s intended divorce of Mary would have been), without paying attention God. I follow the rules and yet am blind and deaf to how God is moving.

I’ll admit that I’ve never quite had the angels-in-a-dream experience that Joseph had, but when I pay attention, sometimes I realize that what God is asking me to do is more than just right and righteous, but is true participation of God’s action in the world.

As individuals and communities of faith, do we do follow the rules and do what is within our rights, or do we truly seek the will of God?

Prayer:

Emmanuel, God with us, help us to be alert to your work in the world, and participate, like Mary and Joseph, not only in doing what is right, but it doing your will. Amen.