Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK
Dec. 23, 2011

Daily Ornament!
A Week of Peace: Friday, Day Twenty-Seven of Advent

“The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity. – Psalm 93:1-2

Gospel Reading: Luke 1:67-80
“And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.” – Luke 1:80

From today’s Lesson in “Illuminate.”
“At the beginning of Luke we met Zechariah, an upright Jewish priest who was serving in the temple. All of those details were an invitation to respect Zechariah for his place of honor within the Jewish community. Yet when he is visited by a messenger of God, he questions God’s plan. This man, who is pictured as godly, lacks faith and loses the ability to speak. But that is not the end of Zechariah’s participation in God’s story. Instead, Zechariah becomes for us an example of a person growing in God’s grace in preparation for the coming of the Lord. Zechariah reappears in the story when Elizabeth gives birth, and he is asked to name the child. In renewed faith, he obeys God and names the child John. Immediately his mouth opens and we know that God restored Zechariah as a faithful witness to the coming of the Lord.” (pg. 73) Today, (December 23) is my father’s birthday. Had he lived he would have been 96. He died at the age of 52 of lung cancer in 1967. I was 8 at the time and I never really had the opportunity to get to know him.
For those who are not aware (although most reading this are) I was adopted. From the moment I was born I became the child of Darrell and Corine Carnell, not my birth parents. Despite the fact I was not his “natural” child it did not lessen the fact that my father loved me dearly. One of the few early memories I have as a boy was an old blue GMC truck my dad owned. After he bought the truck one of the first things he did was to put on the doors on both sides of the truck these letters: D.E. Carnell & Son. That is how much he loved me. One other note, when I was born my father was 44, not exactly the time when people start a family. It got me to wondering how old Zechariah was at the time of John’s birth. We are told that both he and Elizabeth were advanced in age and had probably accepted the fact that they would never have the experience of being parents! But God changed their thinking! What we do know is that Zechariah’s joy knows no bounds!! The passage from Luke is filled with praise and joy—his love for his son and his God cannot be contained! Advent for me is much like the joy Zechariah is experiencing, and the joy my father received in realizing he had a son. I also see Advent as God’s way of allowing me to be a part of His family! He cares so much for me that He was willing to go to the greatest lengths possible—and He calls me His Father!
For far too many, Advent is nothing more than a seasonal celebration—a time to “cut-loose” and revert back to their child-hood! The story of the birth of a child (two actually if you add John) grants us an excuse to become children ourselves. What do you think would happen if more, in their celebration, would see God as their true Father? Maybe more of us would be like John and “grow strong in spirit!”
I am thankful for my adopted father—a man who loved completely unconditionally. The same can be said for my heavenly Father who had done the same!
Pastor J. T. Carnell