Daily Devotion

We are officially in the second half of the Advent season.  So far we have focused on preparing our hands and our homes for the coming of Christ.  This week we will spend time preparing our hearts. This work is about getting our “interior” ready—attitudes, hopes, fears, struggles and joys—what is inside of us that helps or hinders our readiness for Jesus coming?  The question we ask this week, “Is your heart in stable condition?” (do you see what I did there?)

Let’s begin with these powerful words from Philippians 2

⁵ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
⁶ who, though he was in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be exploited,
⁷ but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
⁸     he humbled himself
    and became obedient to the point of death—
    even death on a cross.

Have you ever considered how vulnerable God became, when Jesus “emptied himself and was born in human likeness”?  In vulnerability God, the creator of the universe, trusted the process of growing inside the womb of a middle eastern teenager.  In vulnerability God trusted that human parents could take care of Jesus, and raise him up properly.  In vulnerability God encountered human powers and authorities that ended up crucifying Jesus.  It seems to me it might have been easier to have “stayed in the form of God.” 

But our God chose to become vulnerable—for our sake.  When we pray to God, in Jesus, we are praying to a Presence that knows what it is to be fully human.  The struggles, the pain, the boredom and yes, the vulnerability.  By becoming vulnerable, God opened the door for us to have a deeper relationship, because vulnerability does that.  Vulnerability grows relationships, it makes us less isolated, it invites us to deeper connection.  Think about times in your own life when you have been vulnerable with trusted people, how did that change you and the nature of the relationship?

In this third week in Advent as a part of preparing your heart, I hope you will consider being vulnerable in your human relationships and in your relationship with God.  When you pray do you assume you need to always be in your “Sunday best” frame of mind?  Do you hide your fears and worries from God, afraid God may distance from you if your faith isn’t perfect?   What if, in this season, you were completely honest with God and in that vulnerability you found your heart open to a deeper trust in God’s goodness?  What about your human relationships, can you share more deeply from your hopes, fear, loneliness, failures and be more supportive of similar sharing from others?

To read more about vulnerability I invite you to read this excellent daily devotion written by GSLC member, Tara Chapin: Devotion

If you are reading Luke’s Gospel this month, today is Luke 14, here is the link: Luke 14