Today's meditation touches on what I consider to be a solid and undeniable truth, namely that nobody is too far gone for God. That no matter who the person is or what he or she has done, God is still wanting and yearning for that person's return. Now, to be honest, there are some people that I really wonder about given my time as a probation officer and social worker and my years of working in inner-city parishes, but I still hold out that idea as a reality. Until the person dies, there is still hope, even if pretty slim.

This gives me a great and wondrous reassurance, for all of us, no matter how good we are, have invariably 'flubbed it', and flubbed it badly. We all need God's mercy, love, and forgiveness. And, what a wonderful time to be reminded of this, in this pre-Christmas season, as we remember that God so loved us, so loved all the world, that He came in-person to help us and redeem us.

Today's meditation touches on something that is absolutely crucial to our modern day and pattern of life. It has to do with authority and with laws and rules and regulations. As people resist and chafe against 'the laws of the land', so too do they resist and chafe against the laws of God. But, what we need to remember, and take to heart, is that God's laws were not set down as some kind of nasty and repressive restriction upon our personal rights and freedoms, but as a loving gift that was meant to help us live more healthy and productive and safe lives. They were meant for our good and for the good of others. And, this, I would say, is likewise the purpose of 'the laws of the land', if only we can look at them this way. They are meant not as some draconian measure, but as an attempt, feeble and halting as they may be, to help us all during this perilous and difficult time.

Today's meditation touches on something that is crucial to the practice of the Christian life, namely how God guides and directs us. Many, many books, sermons and Bible talks have focused on God's guidance as per the Scriptures, but seldom do they address the more crucial issue of how we might find God's more personalized and focused direction for their lives. This is what I have attempted to dwell on in today's meditation. I hope it is of use to you.

I am by no means an 'expert' in this discipline but I have seen, both in myself and others, some rather incredible examples of people listening to God and receiving the most detailed and explicit direction from Him, direction that turned out to be exactly the right thing for the particular situation. If you'd like to know more, please feel free to contact me.

The meditations for yesterday and today offer two contrasting views on our reality as Christians. Yesterday's meditation counsels us not to worry, but instead to cast all our worries and concerns upon Christ, who cares for us. Today's meditation tells us that, perhaps in a reverse way, there are some things that 'should' worry us, namely those parts of our inner selves that could wreck havoc upon our souls. But once again, the solution is to take them to Christ and allow Him to deal with them, to actually put them to death, as the apostle Paul says. It is a great and helpful thing to pursue during this Advent season.

I think that a major problem for many Christians is that they forget who they are and whose they are. They somehow fall into the error that they are 'just' ordinary people, people 'just' like everyone else. But they aren't! I don't mean this in any prideful or exalted way, but merely to state a fact, a glorious fact. We are God's own people, His chosen ones, and we have not only a privilege on account of that, but also a great responsibility. Today's passage and meditation touch on just of what that means and entails in terms of our lives.

Years ago, in another parish and city, I led a several week Bible study on 'Emmanuel', 'God with us.' Starting with the Garden of Eden and ending with yet another garden (the Book of Revelation), we explored how God earnestly desires to be with His people. We looked at the friendship with God that Abraham and Moses enjoyed, and the visible tangible expressions of His presence in the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple, and then on to the New Testament teachings about us abiding in Him and about us ourselves being temples of God, temples of the Holy Spirit. And, of course, then there is today's passage. All of this tells us so eloquently that God yearns to be with us, and yet, so very often we fail to see this or appreciate this, and likewise fail to take God at His most glorious offer of being with us. My prayer is that all of us can be so much more intentional in accepting that offer and dwelling in that presence.

We all know, or at least we should, that being present to someone, and listening to that person, is absolutely vital to all relationships. Yet, far too often, our mind is somewhere else, or we have other agenda items, or we have conflicting presuppositions, and so we just don't hear. Or don't hear properly. The same can be true with us and God. It certainly was true with the disciples and Jesus. They had their own ideas of what the Messiah would be like and what the kingdom would look like, and those ideas didn't jive with what Jesus was telling them. No wonder God had to tell the three of them on to mountain to 'listen up', to listen to Jesus. Well might He be saying that to us as well, because we too can be like those three. And perhaps this is a good time of the year to especially think of this and pay attention to this--as we prepare, once again, for His coming.

Today's meditation touches on what has to be a vital dynamic within the Christian life, namely the partnership we have with God and the interplay between what He has done (and is doing) and what we are called to do. Yes, we have the completed work of Christ as a given, as something precious and valuable, but even so, there are things that we can, and must, do in order for that work to find its fullest and clearest expression. Someone, Gregory Baum it think, once said, "We need the conviction that God counts on men" and how true that happens to be. God needs us, as His men and women, to do our part in sharing His good news and making His kingdom known in our world.