Jonathan Shradar

The anticipation has led us here. To the day before. Even in the wake of a trying year we know tomorrow will come. We grieve for those who can't say that and do so with the fixed and firm hope that this day brings. Like shepherds tending our flocks, there is still work to be done. But we will have the opportunity to look up and hear the announcement of a child. This side of the first Christmas Eve we know the ramifications. The redemption that will be worked. The new life that is to be found in the child born king. It is then with this knowledge we breathe in the peace that this promise holds. Jesus has come and he is coming again. Both truths anchor us and give us a settled hope. May our day before be rich in reminder, and his real presence with us.

The movie poster was stirring and has always stuck with me. "He fought for freedom and settled for power." The movie was telling the story of Castro, but the tag line seems to apply to so many in places of influence and leadership. It is dangerous. When we succeed or move to the next level, the temptation to worship self runs deep. I wonder if a solution is to pray that the Lord would keep us "small," dependent on him and content in little things. Uzziah missed that type of prayer. Made king at 16 he did what was right and followed the law of the Lord. God made him to prosper because of it. Things were looking up. Then, he settled. "But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction..." 2 Chronicles 26:16 (ESV) The more he had military and economic success the more reckless he became. He turned from devotion to God to devotion to himself. To his destruction. God will make those that are faithful to prosper. He will even elevate men and women to prom

In the spring of this year I was preaching into a camera and I told our church that my prayer for coming through the pandemic was not just that we make it back to normal but that it would be evident that we had been with Jesus during the pandemic. That our hope sustained us. That we served others with joy. That we lived by Christ's ethic. It was my supernaturalized vision of 2020. I still long for this and I think is is what the great commission lived out looks like. From a hopeful place in Scripture we hear of what Advent delivers and what those in Christ are meant to reveal. Zechariah is among the minor prophets and in a collection of words from Yahweh through the prophet we hear of calls back to justice and trust in the Lord's strength and plan. Then in chapter 8 there is a wonderful vision of a coming peace, an expansion of Jerusalem, the city of God. In the description it is clear that this is the place humanity longs to be. And the far off are brought in. But it is one of

As I read Scripture this morning I came across a passage in Revelation 12 that at once made me nostalgic. In the apocalyptic narrative of the dragon's defeat and Satan being thrown down, the people belonging to Christ overcome by the blood and the word of their testimony. The description, written to encourage believers facing first century persecution, is meant to stir rejoicing in the heavens, and among those in Christ. New Life Worship added the refrain to their mid-2000s song Overcome. That was my jam for a bit. That is the place of our victory, by the blood of Jesus we have forgiveness, a new covenant of grace. And the word of our testimony echos back the glory of our Savior as we stand firm in his righteousness and mission. But as I read this text again this morning it was something else about these conquerors that stirred a different part of my soul. " And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives

The little letters of John the Apostle are so helpful in giving a glimpse into the pastoral heart. Care for those you lead and teach. He uses the first two to establish the church in love, the vital ingredient of a life in Christ. Then in the third letter he leans on truth. Of course it is the truth of the gospel, of the kingdom of Christ and his reign. But I think it also pertains to all truth. Having character enough to wade through what is heard or seen and landing our perspective on the truth. Not our preference, not our opinion, but truth. John even calls out someone by name for putting the self before truth... dangerous territory. But it is John's expression of joy that got me today as I read it. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 4 (ESV) His greatest joy is being told how his children (those that he has fathered in ministry) walk in the truth. They don't frequent in conspiracy or opinion or as he calls it &quo

This morning as I was reading of the finishing work of Solomon's temple, the overlaying of the gold and bronze, it struck me that God could have kept the temple. Here is the House of the Lord David dreamed of. Extravagant, covered in splendor and meaning, holy. It would be the place God's people would make offerings to him, worship him. It would also be the center of all of life in Jerusalem. But for all of its glory and place in redemptive history, it would not last. Due to the rebellion of the faithless, the disobedience of those made a people it would be stripped of its finery. It would be ruined. There would be rebuilding projects but the Temple would never again match the early majesty. And eventually it would be gone forever, burned to the ground. God could have kept it though. In his sovereignty he could have maintained its foundations regardless of the unfaithfulness of the people he called his own. It could still remain today as the center of life, where we communed wi