Advent 2025, Day 22

   

Day 22, December 21, 2025

Theme: 

Love

Readings: 

Reading 1: Isa 7:10-14 

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24 

Reading 2: Rom 1:1-7
Gospel: Mt 1:18-25

Reflections:

Note that Today is the fourth Sunday, and on Sundays, there are a couple more readings. No pressure to get through all of this in one sitting.  Please light the final candle and rest in the glow of the complete wreath. The wait is almost over—Christmas is coming! God gives Hope, Peace, Joy...And he IS Love. Simply lighting the candles and contemplating who God is becomes a profound act of worship.

Today, we compare two men invited by God to push past their fear and surrender their 'business as usual' approach to life. Ahaz refused God's help and invitation with a lame excuse: I won't bother God.  Joseph obeyed.  Simple contrast.  They both had life experience, and both were measuring the cost of doing God's will and obedience against the inertia of just doing what was normal.  

By way of contrast, Ahaz's normal was looking to mankind for actual support.  For Joseph, his sense of duty and respect for messages from angels (the subject of today's song) was greater.  Joseph simply had more respect for God.  Joseph also had considered a quiet divorce... And that would have been convenient, legal, and within his rights.  It would not require much character, either.  The impact on Mary would have been a life of prostitution, begging as she was shunned by the community, or maybe being allowed to return to her family in shame.  It's a harsh reality, but those really were the only two options for Mary if Joseph didn't show up with courage.  Choosing to remain with her and trust God was opening himself up to side eyes galore.  There was a real social stigma that could impact his business because of the pregnancy outside of marriage in a small Jewish town.  So check this out:  Joseph took Mary as his wife immediately after the angel spoke to him.  He didn't consummate the marriage, but he took her in.  Look at the model of love: risk, doubling down on commitment, and bringing the difficult situation closer...Along with deep obedience to God.  Whoa.  What a lesson for us today.  Let's hang in there with people we love and deeply seek God's will.

Ahaz, King of Judah, was so different than Joseph. He was utterly superficial in his relationship to God. He was engaging in political maneuvering, weighing his options, and 100% focused on what humans would do or not do.  God's intervention was simply unwelcome and totally dismissed.  Ahaz could have asked for anything.  And he opted for his own experience. He got into his own head, rather than obeying his Maker.  He sent word to Assyria and voluntarily surrendered, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and... the king of Israel" (2 Kings 16:7-8). God's response was simply to let Ahaz be a bad leader, then say, “I'm going to send my son by way of a virgin anyway, and my son will be called Immanuel, even though you don't want me with you.  I will still be with my people.”

Isn't that beautiful?  Leaders can be utterly lame, and God still shows up. He keeps caring.  He is LOVE.  Praise God for who he is!  God is Love.

Today's psalm is a response we might all pray: "Let the Lord enter; he is the King of Glory." Where do you need to let God in? From where in your life or heart does fear need to be dispelled?  I'd love for you to comment below, even if anonymously, from where you'd like fear scrubbed out.  Is it in relationships? Is it fear of social interactions? Fear of loneliness? Fear of crowds? Fear for your college-aged kid's safety?  For your aging parents? Fear that you are not lovable?  Why might you be avoiding God's presence in that area of your life?

 

In prayer, name that fear. Simply whisper or pray the fear and externalize it.  Then pray again and again: "Let the Lord in; he is the King of Glory."

God loves you.  You are enough. Keep returning to God's love.

Let us let the Lord in this week; he loves us so much he'd give his own son's life for us.  We need a Joseph-like commitment to return to God and return frequently to obedience and habits that keep us OUT of our own heads, and IN to the story God is telling in which HE is the main character, no one else.  Ahaz likely had very little liturgy and very few habits that formed him to God's will.  Let us take a lesson and let Advent and the coming new year form us for the better.  Let's intentionally return to love each day, even if it looks like keeping silent with God for a few minutes a day or praying a one-sentence prayer: 

Prayer: Let the Lord enter; He is the King of glory

Song: The Angel Gabriel, Medieval Baebes

Bonus! My Advent 2025 playlist is ready for you to listen to on Apple Music. It's diverse, and it was so much fun to put together as I read through the scriptures and wrote this series.

NOTE the songs are on Apple Music, which you can get for a month for free if you are new... I just didn't want an obnoxious YouTube Ad ruining your quiet time :-)

Please comment on today's devotional below. A Gmail account is required to comment.

If you are looking for a nondenominational church in the Denver area, check out denverchurchofchrist.org