Advent 1 - 2021
- bordenmscott
- Dec 1, 2021
- 3 min read
Welcome to the first day of Advent! If you want a refresher on what Advent is all about you can get one right here from our very own student minister, Erica:
Through the season of Advent I’m converting the Overflow into an Advent reading sampler, borrowing some content from a few different sources to offer a weekly Advent devotional.
Today’s post is drawn from the advent devotional Unexpected Jesus: Cover to Cover Advent Study Guide by Acadia Divinity College President Dr. Anna Robbins.
Scripture Reading - Genesis 1:26-31
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
From Dr. Robbins: “There is a series of stained-glass windows in the chapel of the university where I work depicting the gospel story from Genesis through to the birth, life and death of Jesus. The first window, however, doesn’t begin the story with creation but a sorrowful picture of Adam and Eve leaving the garden, humiliated, and with the serpent slithering in the background. According to designer of the windows, that is where the gospel starts – with the Fall. Often, for us, the gospel starts to impact us at our lowest point too. We are so aware of our fallenness, our unworthiness, our shame and our failures that we wonder, even if there is God, why should He be mindful of us, of me? At the beginning of this Advent season, the words that spoke creation into being deserve to be lingered over because they hold the power of life. The book of Genesis reveals that we have a relationship with God and the capacity to relate to Him because He created us in His own image. This mystery is a fundamental quality that we all share as human beings, across ethnicities and other identities. ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good’ (v31). Declaring the creation ‘good’ doesn’t mean it was perfect. Rather, it means it was fitting for the purpose for which it was made. Creation functioned as it should. It did what He purposed it to do. All of creation was designed to function well. The tree of life is positioned at the centre of the Garden (Gen. 2:9). Death is kept at a distance. Goodness is our default. Maybe that’s why we often seem to have an inbuilt sense that things are not always the way they should be. We long for the goodness of the Garden, where the creator walked with His people (Gen. 3:8). This is the beginning of the story: God with us. He’s always been with us. His desire is to always be with us. God at work in creation is the first pane in the window of our gospel story. ‘God with us’ is the first theological affirmation of humanity in creation. In a culture of negativity, which often feels so dark, we have an unexpected reminder that the light is not far away. ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear’ (Psalm 27:1)."
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer Thank You, Father, that You’ve wanted to be with us from the beginning. Help me to accept that You want to be with me even in the mess of real life, and that nothing in my life surprises You. Remind me this season, when so much seems not to be the way it should be, that You created the world for good. Amen.
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