{"id":247,"date":"2007-12-02T09:37:26","date_gmt":"2007-12-02T13:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/godandculture.wordpress.com\/2007\/12\/02\/a-meditation-for-the-first-sunday-of-advent\/"},"modified":"2007-12-02T09:37:26","modified_gmt":"2007-12-02T13:37:26","slug":"a-meditation-for-the-first-sunday-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/a-meditation-for-the-first-sunday-of-advent","title":{"rendered":"A Meditation for the First Sunday of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

READ 2 SAMUEL 7:1-16<\/a><\/p>\n

It is estimated<\/a> that on any given night in America 760,000 people are homeless. Nearly 2 million people every year experience homelessness. 51% of these people are men, 17% are women (most of whom are running from an abusive relationship), and 30% are families with children. The average\u00a0homeless person in the United States is 9 years old.<\/p>\n

Having a place to call home is a blessing we often take for granted. Think about your own house, the place where you live. When we are away from our homes we compare our surroundings with home by saying things like, “This place has all the comforts of home.”<\/p>\n

A home is a place of security. It is a place of shelter. But beyond that a home is a reflection of the people who live there. It is our families that make our homes the warm and inviting places we enjoy.<\/p>\n

A home is a place of fellowship and communion. It is a place where meals are shared and where sorrow and joy are shared.<\/p>\n

A home is a place of rest and respite. It is a place of retreat from the world, from others who are not part of your family.<\/p>\n

A home is a dwelling place. It is a place to linger. It is a place where, if you wanted to, you never have to leave!<\/p>\n

King David wanted to build God a house. He didn’t feel it was fitting that God lived in a tent while he lived in a great house of cedar. When David presented his plan to Nathan the prophet, at first Nathan agreed that God was with David and would bless his plan. However Nathan later heard from God and it turns out that it never was God’s plan to live in a house made with man’s hands. God turned the tables on David and told Nathan that it was God who would build David a house and a kingdom that would be established forever.<\/p>\n

God accomplished this plan by sending His own Son into the world. The Angel Gabriel appears to Mary in Luke 1:26-38 and tells her that through the son she will conceive by the Holy Spirit, God would fulfill his promise made to David to give him an eternal kingdom. Gabriel told Mary, “…the Lord God will give to him (Jesus) the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end.”<\/p>\n

God dwelt in human form in the person of His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as God dwelt in a tent among the people of Israel, He came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), he partook of flesh and blood just like the children of men (Hebrews 2:14)\u00a0 to dwell among us.\u00a0“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). God dwelt with us in a body of flesh. The human body of Jesus was the temple of the living God.<\/p>\n

And it was through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10) that we<\/strong><\/em> are made the dwelling place of God by faith (Ephesians 3:17). By faith in Jesus Christ we are being built into a dwelling place for God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22). We are God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:9, 16). We are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16).<\/p>\n

Advent is about experiencing the presence<\/em> of God, not the presents<\/em> we receive. God is building His people into a temple where He desires to dwell.\u00a0This dwelling place for God is\u00a0a place characterized by security, fellowship and communion, rest and respite. It is a spiritual reality embodied in the church. But in the fulness of God’s time it will be a present reality: “Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

READ 2 SAMUEL 7:1-16 It is estimated that on any given night in America 760,000 people are homeless. Nearly 2 million people every year experience homelessness. 51% of these people are men, 17% are women (most of whom are running … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}