Advent Week Four: Love

Week four comes from Mennonite Church USA’s (MC USA) 2020 Advent at Home devotional, “We Wait for Jesus,” which focuses on the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love. It was written by Talashia Keim Yoder, pastor of Christian Formation at College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana. 

We invite you to wait for Jesus as we share weekly reflections and activities for all ages. Download the full Advent At Home worship guide.

This week’s story: The Journey to Bethlehem

Advent Daily Ritual

• Light three purple candles and the pink candle, saying, “We wait for Jesus who will bring hope, peace, joy and love.”
• Weekly scripture reading: Luke 2:1-5.
• Daily scripture readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; Romans 16:25-27; or Luke 1:26-38. Or maybe you want to read all or part of Luke 2:1-5 each day.
• Do your Expecting Ritual.
• Pray: God, we are travelers like Mary and Joseph. Along the way, your love shows up. Your love shines in the most unexpected and difficult places. We know that you are the source of love. God of love, live in us today. Amen.
• Sing a song of love.
• Blow out the candles.

Weekly Worship Ritual

Tell the story

Luke 2:1-5

Put it in context

God created a good world. We were created to live peacefully, but we often miss the mark. When that happens, we have to deal with the consequences, but God sticks with us. Our whole story is a story of God sticking with us. In the Bible, God called a family to be a blessing to the earth, and even when Abraham and Sarah and their descendants missed the mark, God stuck with them. When their Egyptian rulers missed the mark and made them slaves, they cried out to God, and God stuck with them by sending Moses to lead them.

The people of God had a hard time understanding how to live God’s law of love in community, so God sent leaders like Joshua, judges like Deborah, and prophets like Samuel to bring the people back to God. Eventually, the people missed the mark so much that their land was taken over by invading armies. Many of the people were captured and put into exile, and others were left in the ruins of what had been their home.

Prophets like Isaiah brought hope to the people in exile. Eventually, the people returned from exile and rebuilt Jerusalem. We call this the “second temple period.” The people longed for a Messiah, and at the beginning of the New Testament, we learn that the Messiah is on his way. Jesus, the Messiah, adopted into a line of royalty and messes, came to show the way of peace. When the angel appeared to Mary, she responded with God’s request with deep joy.

Mary is pregnant with God’s child, and Joseph has decided to stick by her (see Matthew 1:18-25 for his story). In this week’s story, Mary and Joseph journey to
Bethlehem. It’s a journey they had to make because of the world they lived in, and it could not have been an easy one. They walked this journey together, though. Our word this week is love. The five verses we are reading are mostly descriptive, but when we dig into the story a little, we can see that their love for each other is reflected in their taking of this journey together, and that God’s sustaining love is with them. And as they travel this journey, the time of God’s ultimate love revealed in Jesus is coming closer and closer.

Talk about it

Choose the prompts that are appropriate for your household.

• There’s a lot of “fulfillment of the scriptures” going on in the story of Jesus’ birth. Even this traveling story is a fulfillment. Read Psalm 87:5-6.
• Wait a minute. Where’s the donkey?! Every tradition has inserted assumptions and additions to this beloved story. It’s okay to do that! And it’s good to recognize those additions as our own way of doing “midrash,” which is playing with and interpreting the story.
• Emperor Augustus ruled from 27 BCE to 14 CE. His era was one of peace, and he was called “god,” “son of god,” “savior” and “father” by the people. So right away, we have a challenge. Which “son of god” are the readers of Luke going to follow?
• Get out your map! Trace this journey. How long is it? How long would it have taken to travel? One place to explore this journey is www.photorientalist.org/exhibitions/palestines-nativity-trail-a-journey-through-history/.
• We don’t know exactly what this journey looked like. It’s likely that Mary and Joseph were part of a caravan of people. They probably walked most or all of the way. Mary was heavily pregnant. Do your own imagining and playing with this story. How do you think love showed up along the way?
• Journeys are a major biblical theme. Think about other journeys in the Big Story of
  the Bible. This is already the second journey in the story of Jesus’ birth, and
  there are more to come. Can you think of other journeys in Jesus’ story?

Tell it your way
Add to your “Journey to Bethlehem” mural.

This weekly project can deepen your growth toward Christmas. Choose a place for your mural. It can be wherever you have space in a common area, or maybe you want it to lead toward a manger scene or another symbol of Christmas. Each week, draw a scene or make a collage inspired by the week’s story and add it to your mural.