Advent Devotional | 3rd Wednesday in Advent | Year C | December 16th, 2015

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Isaiah 11:1-9

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
   and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
   the spirit of counsel and might,
   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
   or decide by what his ears hear; 
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
   and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
   and a little child shall lead them. 
The cow and the bear shall graze,
   their young shall lie down together;
   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 
They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea. 

Today's text is just weird; there's no way around it!  The wolf existing in peace with the lamb?  The leopard the same way with the kid?  A child playing without fear at the hole of the asp?  You've got to be kidding me!

Make no mistake about it - what is coming is a radical change in our current reality.  Today, it is so easy to give into the current rhetoric of fear and intimidation.  Violence seems to have the final word.  Terrorism and gun violence seem to be dominating the discussion.  However, a savior is soon to come who will make all of these over conversations a thing of the past!  Peace will come into our arms in the form of a helpless little baby that bears within him the power to save the world.  Who saw that coming!?

These are no ordinary circumstances and this is no ordinary child!  This child will have the Spirit of the Lord resting upon him - a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, we are told; a spirit of counsel and might.  

This child is ushering in a kingdom where power is not might but righteousness and justice is.  This is indeed a counter-cultural notion, is it not?  As the fruition of Advent comes within sight, may you and I be reminded that Advent is first and foremost an invitation to join in the work of this coming child.  You and I are invited to partake in the kingdom of peace that stands between us as evil.  And of this kingdom of peace and evil, only one will have the final word!  I'll give you a guess as to which one it will be:  it will be the one that comes to us in the most unexpected of ways!

Prayer of the Day:
God of our shattered expectations,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Guide me this day as I journey through its triumphs and its trials.
Help me to welcome your Son into my arms as Mary soon will.
In all that I do, may I be a vehicle of peace in a world that seems to reject it.  Amen.

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Stephen Fearing

Stephen was born in 1988 in Cookeville, TN, where his parents met whilst attending Tennessee Tech. Shortly after, they moved to Dalton, Georgia where they put down roots and joined First Presbyterian Church, the faith family that taught Stephen that he was first and foremost a beloved child of God. It was this community that taught Stephen that it was OK to have questions and doubts and that nothing he could do could every possibly separate him from the love of God. In 1995, his sister, Sarah Kate, joined the family and Stephen began his journey as a life-long musician. Since then, he has found a love of music and has found this gift particularly fitting for his call to ministry. Among the instruments that he enjoys are piano, trumpet, guitar, and handbells. Stephen has always had a love of singing and congregation song. An avid member of the marching band, Stephen was the drum major of his high school's marching band. In 2006, Stephen began his tenure at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC where he majored in Religion and minored in History. While attending PC, Stephen continued to explore his love of music by participating in the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Trio, as well as playing in the PC Handbell ensemble and playing mandolin and banjo PC's very own bluegrass/rock group, Hosegrass, of which Stephen was a founding member (Hosegrass even released their own CD!). In 2010, Stephen moved from Clinton to Atlanta to attend Columbia Theological Seminary to pursue God's call on his life to be a pastor in the PC(USA). During this time, Stephen worked at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Silver Creek Presbyterian Church, Central Presbyterian Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. For three years, Stephen served as the Choir Director of Columbia Theological Seminary's choir and also served as the Interim Music Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 2014, Stephen graduated from Columbia with a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology with an emphasis in liturgy, music, and worship. In July of 2014, Stephen was installed an ordained as Teaching Elder at Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Shelter Island, NY. Later that year, Stephen married the love of his life, Tricia, and they share their home on Shelter Island with their Golden Doodle, Elsie, and their calico cat, Audrey. In addition to his work with the people who are Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, Stephen currently serves as a commission from Long Island Presbytery to the Synod of the Northeast and, beginning in January of 2016, will moderate the Synod's missions team.