Author: Erin Newton

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Wholeness for the Holidays — Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezra 1 Listen: (2:03)
Read: 3 John Listen: (1:51)

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 9.2, 6

2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Reflection: Wholeness for the Holidays — Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

The thing about Advent is that it is just a waiting game. We know to wait with hope for Jesus’s birth. We know that we will receive love through him. We know that joy will follow this grand event. But what does the peace of Advent offer us?

What are we hoping to find in peace? The feeling of hopelessness, that’s familiar. The heartache of being unloved, we know what that’s like. The weight of sadness and lack of joy is a regular routine. What is life without peace? It is chaotic, broken, raging, tumultuous, scary, fear-driven, uncertain.

Peace is a noun and, within the original Hebrew context, it came from a verb meaning “wholeness” or “complete.” Peace also carries other connotations such as calmness or freedom from conflict. But in the most basic essence of the term—peace is that which fills all voids.

So when Isaiah proclaims the coming child who is a counselor, deity, and father—he is also a prince of wholeness.

The gift of the season is Someone who makes things whole. He mends tears. He binds wounds. He fills chasms. He makes all that is insufficient sufficient.

There is a Japanese technique for mending broken pottery—kintsugi. Many have seen the beautiful pieces that were formerly broken shards of bowls or plates, delicately repaired using golden lacquer. The gold seams not only repair that which was broken but reinvent the beauty of the vessel. The bowl, albeit beautiful as it was before it was broken, becomes an exquisite piece of artistry in kintsugi.

The peace of Advent is like these mended pots. The peace of God is a promise of mending, repairing, and completing all that was broken or lacking. But it is more than just taking the pieces of our lives and putting them back into working order. The peace of God is reinventing our lives, binding the pieces that make us who we are and then shining the golden rays of Himself amongst the pieces.

Isaiah speaks of the people walking in the darkness, living in deep darkness. But the light breaks through. The radiance of Christ, an infant born in a lowly place, illuminates all that they could not see. It is the wholeness of life and light that overcomes the darkness here.

With the Holy Spirit, we no longer lack anything. The pieces have been spiritually mended. The golden seams are already there.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

For who is God, but the Lord? Who is the Rock, except our God? — Psalm 18.32

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Read more about Truth and Love — Love of Advent

The love we receive and the truth we believe, are to be passed on. John testifies that joy comes from walking in love and truth in this way.

Truth and Love — Love of Advent
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Is the Future Rendering Us Speechless?

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Daniel 10 Listen: (4:39)
Read: Hebrews 8 Listen: (2:58)

Links for Thursday’s readings:

Read: Daniel 11 Listen: (4:39), Read: Hebrews 9 Listen: (2:58)

Scripture Focus: Daniel 10:15-17

15 While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. 16 Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. 17 How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

Reflection: Is the Future Rendering Us Speechless?

By Erin Newton

Battles and cosmic warfare! A spiritual delay and enigmatic excuses! This chapter presents more questions than answers. The details of the identity of Michael and what exactly is going on are beyond the space we have here.

Daniel is an apocalyptic text. The word apocalypse has become associated with catastrophic end times. Movies in post-apocalyptic settings are often filled with scenes of cities razed to the ground, nature and agriculture ruined, and sometimes warring factions of people (or in speculative fiction—robots and AI).

Apocalypse within the context of the Bible is similar but not quite the same. The term has a broad use and encompasses biblical texts such as Revelation and books excluded from the Protestant canon such as 1 Enoch. The general concept is that these texts are simply divine “revelations” (a basic definition of the Greek word from which we get our English apocalypse).

Daniel’s visions are revelations from God and apocalyptic in nature. They include imagery that extends beyond the scope of what is easily explained. The creatures and events defy explanation. The future vision looks chaotic. The battles between Michael and princes of Persia and Greece echo this typical apocalyptic imagery.

Despite the “out of this world” imagery depicted here, we see the same tried-and-true reality that speaking truth is scary. The forecasted future—whether the picture is presented to us on social media, the news, or through discernment of the times—needs truth more now than ever.

Daniel saw a vision of a “great war.” Many “great wars” have occurred since this vision. Wars continue to escalate even now. Like Daniel, how do we find the strength to speak? We might find the future (and the present) so foreboding that we are rendered speechless.

Praise God that we do not speak alone. The angelic being touched Daniel and bestowed strength to him. Likewise, we are given strength through the Spirit.

But like Daniel, our fear and our weakness does not excuse us from the call to speak. God did not find another prophet when Daniel was afraid. God did not find another leader when Moses stuttered. God did not find another woman when Esther faced the threat of the king’s rage.

Look at the world around us. What can we do? What can we say? As God places the words on your heart, know that he will give you the strength to utter them.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

I will bear witness that the Lord is righteous; I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. — Psalm 7.18

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about Hate Conflict? Love Truth

Quelling conflict must never come at the cost of the truth. The person the Lord hates is the villain, not the victim.

Hate Conflict? Love Truth

Read more about Apocalypse, How?

When we read an “apocalyptic” passage in the Bible, we need to remember that something is being revealed or exposed.

Apocalypse, How? — Editor’s Choice
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To Assimilate or Not

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Daniel 3 Listen: (5:56)
Read: Hebrews 1 Listen: (2:15)

Scripture Focus: Daniel 3:12

12 But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up

Reflection: To Assimilate or Not

By Erin Newton

I love the Bible because it speaks to our culture—even when distantly removed in time. The stories in Daniel have been repeatedly used to speak of Christian ethics in a fallen world.

The story is familiar. The three men taken into captivity are asked to assimilate to the foreign culture. They refuse and are sentenced to death in a fiery furnace.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are tokens for standing up to power and choosing truth over popularity. Their determination to continue in honorable living outweighs their fear of death.

To refuse the king meant severe consequences. This time it meant fire.

The story continues with the miraculous salvation of the three men. They are thrown into the furnace and a fourth person appears—an angel or a theophany of Jesus, perhaps. Whoever joined the men in the fire was a divine instrument of salvation.

There are parallels between the stories in Daniel and the book of Esther. Both involve Judeans sent into the court of a foreign king and asked to conform their lives to the whims of those in power. Daniel and his three friends resist conforming. They consistently reject the king’s commands. Twice they are sent to their deaths. Twice they are miraculously saved.

Esther hides her ancestry and partakes in the customs and system of the foreign kingdom. She comes to the king when he calls for her. She performs the beauty and dietary regimen assigned to her. Her actions are quite the opposite of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

How do we reconcile the different accounts? Yes, Esther was later used to save the Jews and risked her life to do so. Daniel and the three men risked only their lives in resistance.

We have both stories of bold resistance and quiet acceptance to reveal the complexity of life. There are rarely simple answers to our situations. Perhaps God had stirred their hearts to boldness in refusing the king and boldness in obeying the king.

Too often are we tempted to judge one another for making these same decisions. I believe Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were right in in refusing and taking the consequence. I believe Esther was right in joining the king’s court. God used both.

The days ahead will be filled with opportunities and we may disagree on how things should be done. Let us pray that God is moving in the midst of us.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Send our your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling;

That I may go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy and gladness; and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God. — Psalm 43.3-4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about Stories of Faith :: A Guided Prayer

As we tell our stories of faith, we celebrate every moment—the struggles, the losses, and the miraculous moments of victory. 

Stories of Faith :: A Guided Prayer

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Priests in More Than Just Name

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 44 Listen: (5:32)
Read: 2 Peter 2 Listen: (3:52)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 44:15

15 But the Levitical priests, who are descendants of Zadok and who guarded my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Reflection: Priests in More Than Just Name

By Erin Newton

From the first pages of Genesis, we have witnessed God fill the realms of creation. He created space and filled it— with Jupiter, the Big Dipper, our sun and moon, and so much more. He made the seas and filled them—with dolphins, beluga whales, sea turtles, and species we have yet to discover. He made the land and filled it—with redwood trees, bluebonnets, sugarcane, and crops to cover every valley or hill.

In Genesis, God joined creation to dwell with humanity in harmony—the first ever temple. But through the ravages of sin, that union and harmony was defiled and destroyed.

Ezekiel is testimony to the de-creation of the Temple. God’s people treated their relationship with him flippantly. It was not a holy place to seek the presence of God; it had become a commonplace hangout where it didn’t matter what you believed or what you did—anyone could enter this sacred space.

And so, God left. “Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple” (Ezek 10.18).

What is creation without its Creator? What is a Temple without its God? What is an altar without divine communion?

But the story was never intended to end there. God returned. “And I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters and the land was radiant with his glory” (Ezek 43.2).

Ezekiel begins to describe the new Temple and its new filling—with renewed purpose, new design, and new inhabitants.

The priesthood was slightly different this time. Much scholarly speculation has explored the differences in this temple compared to the first, far more that we could delve into here. But what we see clearly is God’s focus on those who treated their relationship with him seriously. The Zadok lineage of priests was noted for their obedience when the other priests had gone astray. Being a priest in name was not the same as being faithful.

Because of the reconciliatory work of Christ, we are all the priesthood of God. We have access to him and his spirit dwells within the temple of our own bodies. But this passage should remind us that God desires for us to treat our union with him seriously and faithfully. Are we a priesthood in name only? Or shall we be remembered as faithful when some of the Church was not?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

O God of hosts, show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved. — Psalm 80.7

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about Temples—Gardens of Grace

Believers are Christ’s temple—his garden of grace.

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Ex Nihilo in Ezekiel

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 37 Listen: (5:07)
Read: Titus 3 Listen: (2:05)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 37: 4–5, 11

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.’”

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’”

Reflection: Ex Nihilo in Ezekiel

By Erin Newton

The landscape from where you sit may look rather bleak. The ups and downs of what feels like a never-ending series of unprecedented events make the future appear without hope. We see nothing but despair, death, and difficulty.

Ezekiel gazed across the valley and saw only bones, not freshly deceased remains but signs of those who had long since suffered death.

These are not the bodies of Jarius’s daughter, a few moments within the throes of death, or Lazarus, a few days within the tomb. The bones were dry, clean, and cured by the sun. If we read a glimmer of hope into the stories of those on the brink of death, this story should strip away all hope of resuscitation.

But God asks Ezekiel to dream the impossible. Ezekiel spoke God’s salvation to the most inattentive, unresponsible, unlikely audience.

We think about Jonah, miraculously spared from the stomach acid of a whale (or miraculously resurrected from the whale), and cling to the idea that somehow, maybe in some way, God could fix and reverse the signs of death, if it was recent. Ezekiel 37 is entirely different.

Life would come from nothing— another ex nihilo creation in Ezekiel. While the tissues and muscles supernaturally regrew on the bones, the nerves and tendons attaching as required, the skin covering the vital organs, hair and melanin filling in every inch of the body, I imagine the hymn rang out: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

Death and hopelessness had settled into the valley. It was past the perceived time for God to intervene. Judgment had come upon the land as the prophets foretold. The bones were testimony to the promises kept by God, albeit the promises they hoped he’d forget.

But there is no sin and no subsequent judgment that exceeds the limits of God’s mercy. From the hand that judged sin came the hand that would bring new life. “Salvation was to rise phoenix-like from the embers of judgment.” (Leslie Allen, Word Biblical Commentary).

When we look at the days ahead, does it look beyond hope? Do we see the future and assume the time has surely passed for God to help us in this time and in this place? Dear sisters and brothers, do not lose hope. By God’s spirit, new life has entered our bones, and we rise and rise again.

From John: Divine Hours prayers will return next week. For the remainder of this week we will close with the “Election Prayers” that have been in our Echo Prayer feed for the last few years.

Election Prayers:

Pray that in any unrest or conflict that Christians would distinguish themselves from the culture by being able to protest without violence or threat and by being able to give a listening and compassionate ear to even the most strident of opposition.

Pray that we would not be guilty of name-calling or any unwholesome or dehumanizing language.

Pray that what comes from our speech would demonstrate the truth in love no matter what happens around us.

Pray that Christians would not be part of sinful gloating, of boasting, or threatening others over political wins or losses.

Pray that all parties and individuals would reject violence or threats of violence and seek justice for victims of political violence.

Read more about Paul’s Stance on Gentleness

People who are violent rather than gentle…slanderous rather than truthful…are not our enemies. They are captives.

Paul’s Stance on Gentleness

Read more about Be Yoked to Christ, Not Politics

May no party or leader be permitted to yoke us or Christ’s church to their cause.
May the only yoke we take on, be the yoke of Christ, in service to others.

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