I’m so excited for this Sunday, as it’s the first Sunday of Advent! The word “advent” comes from the Latin verb “to come”, and it speaks to a season of waiting for the arrival of the Christ-child. It begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas Day, which this year just happens to be December 1st. So this year, if your Advent calendar starts on December 1, as most do, it will be accurate, but in many other years it starts before December 1, which means, kids, you’ve been getting shorted on your candy!
Advent is a time to come present to our longings, our hopes, and our dreams. Each Sunday is traditionally marked by a theme: The first Sunday is “Hope”, then it’s “Peace”, “Joy”, and “Love”. We will be working with these themes in our candle lighting, but not necessarily in message for the day. There we will continue with Narrative Lectionary, and which has some very different texts for Advent, but they work well. This Sunday, I look forward to diving into “Daniel in the Lions Den.” -Pastor Paul
SCRIPTURE: Daniel 6:10-16 (NRSVUE)
10 Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open toward Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously. 11 Then those men watched[a] and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God. 12 Then they approached the king and said concerning the interdict, “O king! Did you not sign an interdict, that anyone who prays to any god or human, within thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of lions?” The king answered, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they responded to the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the interdict you have signed, but he is saying his prayers three times a day.”
14 When the king heard the charge, he was very much distressed. He was determined to save Daniel, and until the sun went down he made every effort to rescue him. 15 Then the conspirators came to the king and said to him, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.”
16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!”