Introduction
In this time of Advent 2020 we remain physically apart from most other human beings. Yet we in the Church are united always in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. We struggle to maintain faith, to be patient and loving and to carry out the work of the Kingdom of God. Here in our Advent devotions we express our struggles and our faith so that our brethren in the
Lord might continue to take heart and so that others might see our faith and glorify God.
In light of that, you will see some of the devotions written by different believers on the same passage. Different people, different experiences, different insight. Same Lord and Savior.
The Board of Stewardship
Deacon Anthony Cavaliere
“When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 64:3-4)
The Lord God promised a Messiah in Genesis 3:15. The people of God held onto this promise for thousands of years, through times of unfaithfulness, suffering, and tribulation. They may have wondered why the Lord had not acted to save and deliver them. In their impatience many abandoned their faith to trust in worthless idols.
But Advent reminds us that God is always acting though we grow anxious and afraid. In the fullness of time, God sent Jesus to be our Savior.
In this time of Pandemic it is easy to lose sight of the work God is doing. It is easy to become impatient with Him, to demand why He allowed this pandemic to afflict humanity at all, why He does not protect His people from the virus, and why He has not eradicated it. In our impatience we would rather take our own action, to look to man, to science, to the medical professionals, the politicians to rid us of COVID.
But God is acting in ways we do not see or understand. He calls on us to have faith in Him and to wait. We are but clay in the hands of the master potter. This means that He, not we, determines the way we should go and the course our lives should take. Only as we submit to His will we find the grace and strength that will help us in this time of trial as well as the wisdom and guidance we need to live out our lives in righteousness as He desires.