Friday, December 17

Isaiah 10:5-19

Psalms 40, 51, 54

2 Peter 2:17-22

Matthew 11:2-15

Matthew 11:2-15

“When John the Teacher came, the kingdom of heaven began to break in upon us.” – Matthew 11:13

By now you have probably heard about the Advent Conspiracy – a movement to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all. What I love about the Advent Conspiracy is that if we truly enter into the spirit of the “movement,” we all will discover different challenges in our own faith walks. This Advent season, what speaks to me is the idea of worshipping fully. When we are in relationship with God, we worship Him. Yet what I experience is that many things get in the way of my worship of God. We all commit adultery, and we all have our idols – whether it’s that pair of shoes we’re lusting after, our attempt to be a perfect parent, husband, or wife, or our addiction to ____ (fill in the blank). In this season of my life, my adultery – may act of worshipping something other than God - takes the form of being “plugged in”: texting, Facebooking, watching TV.

In today’s Gospel, when John sends a messenger to Jesus to ask if he is the Messiah, the one the Jewish people have been waiting to rescue them from oppression, Jesus tells him, “Go back and tell John the things you have heard and the things you have seen.” Then he describes all the signs of his new kingdom: “the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers cured, the deaf hear, the dead raised, and the good news preached to the poor.”

I can’t help but think: in all my time spent being “plugged in,” what signs of God’s kingdom am I missing?

God’s kingdom breaks in upon us in surprising ways. John must have been surprised to learn that Jesus was a carpenter from a no-name town, not a military hero or a political ruler. This Advent, I’m trying to open up space for God so that I’m able to better see His Kingdom and help Him bring it more fully into being.

Sarah Taylor