First Sunday of Advent - Gifted

Lectionary Reading for the First Sunday of Advent: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

It's hard to believe that the Advent season has arrived.  This seems like it has been an extraordinarily busy year for me and my guess is that others have felt the same way.  I don't believe that I've done any Christmas shopping yet and may be in a bit of denial on where we are in the calendar!

As we share in the devotional readings each week from the epistle lesson featured in the lectionary for Sunday, I have pulled out themes from each reading to help us spiritually in our waiting for Christmas.

How do we express ourselves to others in the midst?

 

What stood out for me in today's reading of Paul's letter was the idea that we are already gifted in the Holy Spirit.  While Paul goes on to lift up charismatic gifts later in his correspondence, we also know about the fruits of the Holy Spirit from the apostle.  In the fifth chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians, he extols the following as attributes that Christians should be multiplying in their own behavior: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

How would it be to begin to define ourselves by these each day during Advent?  To remind ourselves that we are already gifted in the Spirit and have much to share with the world through these?

As I examine my own behavior, what would it mean to give these gifts to all we meet during Advent this year?  And if I am to take it a step further, what would it mean to begin to look for this fruit on display in others?

Prayer: Gracious God, we give thanks for this time of waiting.  May the fruit of the Holy Spirit flourish in us and may we begin to look for this fruit in the behavior we see all around us.  It may be that the more we look, the more that they abound.  Give us eyes to see!  We pray this in the name of the Christ, who was and is and is to come.  Amen.

 Photo by Anthony Quintano via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.