This morning’s devotional is offered by Natalie Aho. 

As you can imagine, this has been a strange Advent season for us this year. I apologize I do not have the emotional energy needed to write as much as I would like. Therefore, I’d like to share a devotional reading with you from a book I was reading last week that has been particularly poignant to me this year. It comes from “Living in Hope Advent Meditations” from the writings of Henri Nouwen.

 

Seeking and Finding the Peace of Jesus

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” 

1 Corinthians 1:28-29

 

Keep your eyes on the prince of peace, the one who doesn’t cling to his divine power; the one who refuses to turn stones into bread, jump from great heights, and rule with great power; the one who says, “Blessed are the poor, the meek, those who mourn, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Mt 5:3-6). Keep your eyes on him who becomes poor with the poor, weak with the weak, and who is rejected with the rejected. That one, Jesus, is the source of all peace.

 

Where is his peace to be found? In weakness. Few people are telling us this truth, but there is peace to be found in our own weakness, in those places of our hearts where we feel most broken, most insecure, most in agony, most afraid. In our weakness, we are forced to let go from doing much, thinking much, and relying on our self-sufficiency. Right where we are most vulnerable, the peace that is not of this world is mysteriously hidden.

 

Jesus, teach us to rely on you, on our heavenly Father, and on the Holy Spirit rather than on our own self-sufficiency.