We Love Because He First Loved Us

· Do you feel loved? Who loves you the most?

· What part of you feels unloveable?

· Do you believe that God loves you? What parts of you do you think He would deem unloveable?

· Read Romans 5:6-8

· When are you most sure that God loves you? How do you experience His love?

· How do you show God that you love Him? When is it easiest? Hardest?

· When is it easiest for you to love others? When is it hardest?

· How do you express your love to others?

· Read Luke 10:25-37. Who is your neighbor?

· Who are your “neighbors” that God is calling you to sacraficially serve and love? (ie. roommates, friends, family, enemies, rivals, boyfriend/girlfriend) How is He asking you to love them? Is that easy or hard for you?

· Read 1 John 4:7-21

In response to God's love, grace and truth: The Purpose of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is to establish and advance at colleges and universities witnessing communities of students and faculty who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord: growing in love for God, God's Word, God's people of every ethnicity and culture and God's purposes in the world.

· How do you currently

o Love God?

o Love God’s Word?

o Love God’s people of every ethnicity and culture?

o Love God’s purposes in the world?

· How can you individually grow in loving God, His Word, His people and His purposes?

· How can we as a group grow in loving God, His Word, His people and His purposes?

Read 1 Corinthians 13.

Make a commitment to God now…whatever He is asking of you…vow to love Him by obeying.

Read John 14:23-24

Help Me Help You

If you read and use the daily devotions I send out, I want your input! What would be helpful for you in growing closer to Jesus?  What kind of devotional or spiritual discipline are you interested in?  Let me know!

The Shining Star: Day 3

Elizabeth Wang

Gospel Reading: Matthew 2:1-12 .

Reflections from the Church Fathers: "In this way marvel was linked to marvel; the magi were worshipping, the star was going before them.  All this is enough to captivate a heart made of stone.  If it had only been the wise men or only the prophets or only the angels who had said these things, they might have been disbelieved. But now with all this confluence of varied evidence, even the most skeptical mouths are stopped. Moreover, the star, when it stood over the child, held still. This itself demonstrates a power greater than any star: first to hide itself, then to appear, then to stand still.  From this all who beheld were encouraged to believe. This is why the magi rejoiced. They found what they were seeking. They had proved to be messengers of truth. Their long journey was not without fruit. Their longing for the Anointed One was fulfilled. He who was born was divine. They recognized this in their worship." Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 7.4. 

For Further Reflection and Prayer:
1. Describe the character of the wise men. What do you admire about them?
2. If you were Mary or Joseph, how would you respond to these strangers bowing down and worshiping your son?
3. "But now with all this confluence of varied evidence, even the most skeptical mouths are stopped." What confluence of varied evidence led you to belief?  Who of your friends are skeptical? What varied evidence might help them believe?

Closing Prayer: "Make us glad, O God, in recounting your mercies and adoring your holiness, and let it be our chief joy to glorify your holy name. Almighty and everlasting God, the brightness of faithful souls, who brought the Gentiles to your light and made known to them him who is the true Light, and the bright and morning Star: fill, we ask you, the world with your glory, and show yourself by the radiance of your light to all nations. Amen." The Gregorian Sacramentary

To that end, pray for Penn to be filled with the glory of God and for Him to show His radiance to all.

And a good song to worship to: Glory in the Highest, Chris Tomlin 

The Shining Star: Day 2

Psalm of Response: Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14.

NT Reading: Ephesians 3:1-12 

Reflections from the Church Fathers: "The Gentiles are fellow heirs with Israel. Put more precisely, they are fellow heirs with Christ...It is not that some possession is divided among us but that God himself in his fullness is our inheritance and possession."  Jerome, Epistle to the Ephesians 2.3.5. 

For Further Reflection and Prayer: 
Read Psalm 72:10-14.  How can God use you to accomplish these promises?
Read Ephesians 3:8ff. The same grace has been bestowed to you. What do you think of this?
Re: the quote from Jerome...God himself is your inheritance.  What do you think that means?! Does that excite you?

For your listening (and pondering) pleasure: God of Justice by Tim Hughes 

The Shining Star: Day 1

Theme: Isaiah foretells the coming of the wise men; kings who will bring gifts and fall down and worship the Christ child. The wise men come to Bethlehem from the East, following a star and seeking the newborn Jesus. On arriving, they rejoice and worship him. Through God's grace in sending Christ for us, we are given the mystery of the salvation of humanity.

Opening Prayer: Epiphany: "Almighty and everlasting God, who has made known the incarnation of your Son by the bright shining of a star, which, when the wise men beheld, they presented costly gifts and adored your majesty; grant that the star of your righteousness may always shine into our hearts; and that, as our treasure, we may give ourselves and all we possess to your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." The Gelasian Sacramentary

OT Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6 

Reflections from the Church Fathers: "And the Logos, exhorting us to come to this light, says, in the prophecies of Isaiah, 'Enlighten yourself, enlighten yourself. O Jerusalem; for your light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.' Observe now the difference between the fine phrases of Plato respecting the 'chief good' and the declarations of our prophets regarding the 'light' of the blessed; and notice that the truth as it is contained in Plato concerning the subject did not at all help his readers to attain to a pure worship of God, not even himself, who could philosophize so grandly about the 'chief good,' whereas the simple language of the Scriptures led to their honest readers being filled with a divine spirit; and this light is nourished within them by the oil, which in a certain parable is said to have preserved the light of the torches of the five wise virgins." Against Celsus 6.5, Origen.

For Further Reflection and Prayer
1. Re Isaiah 60:2, do you notice that darkness covers the earth? Amongst your friends and community at Penn, how do you see darkness covering the earth and peoples?
2. Isaiah 60:4 and 5 state that the Messiah's heart would swell and throb with joy when He saw sons and daughters assembling about him. Have you thought about that? That you make Jesus' heart swell with joy? How does this impact you?
3. The wise men brought costly gifts of gold and incense. Why did they do that? Do you bring costly gifts to Jesus? What are your reasons for doing so?

From Ancient Christian Devotional ed. by Thomas C. Oden and Cindy Crosby

Feast of the Holy Name

Yes, it is New Year's Day, but according to church tradition, it is also the Feast of the Holy Name:

"On the eighth day after his birthday Jesus was circumcised and named, in keeping with Jewish law. So the church marks this octave day, previously called the Feast of the Circumcision and also, in the Roman church, the Feast of Mary. It reminds us of the Jewishness of Jesus.  But also on this day we celebrate with the wider culture the beginning of a new calendar year. (Julius Caesar in A.D. 46 first designated January 1 as the start of the new year.) It is fitting that we begin a new secular year by meditating on the names given to the Christ child: Jesus (the Lord saves) and Immanuel (God with us)...The Word who spoke the world into being is assigned a linguistic configuration of sounds and symbols within that world. He is named Jesus, as the angel had instructed. The Word becomes flesh. The divine takes on the human. The ineffable is named. This is the mystery of the incarnation. Yet the marvel goes even deeper. "He was made man that we might become god," wrote St. Athanasius in the fourth century. A great exchange! He becomes like us that we might become like him. In these remaining days of Christmastide we contemplate this deep mystery.

"Jesus, you are the Word. You are with God and you are God. You were in the beginning with God and all things came into being through you. In you is life and this life is the light of all people. The darkness cannot overcome your light. At your name, Jesus, I bend my knee this day and confess with my tongue that you are Lord, to the glory of God the Father. O God, send the Spirit of your Son into my heart so that I may cry, "Abba! Father!" Amen.

Read Luke 2:21-40 and John 1:1-18.

What do you admire about Anna and Simeon?
Grace + truth. What do these look like in your life? How do you experience grace + truth in your relationship with Jesus?

Taken from Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross. Can be purchased at InterVarsity Press.

Unto Us a Child is Born

For the week of December 25-31: 
Unto Us a Child is Born 

Theme: We who have walked in deep darkness have seen a great light! For unto us a child is born, one who will bring eternal peace. We celebrate Christ's birth because he became what we are, giving his life freely that through his grace we might have the hope of salvation. Because of Jesus, we praise God and declare his glory.

Opening Prayer: Bless, O Lord, the worship of your church this day, and bless our endeavors to glorify your name. Let not our hearts be unduly set on earthly things, but incline us to love things heavenly that even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, we may cling to those that shall abide; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. The Leonine Sacramentary 

OT Reading: Isaiah 9:2-7 

Reflection from Church Fathers: "Today was born the child, and his name was called Wonderful! For a wonder it is that God should reveal himself as a baby." Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on the Nativity

Psalm of Response: Psalm 96 

NT Reading: Titus 2:11-14 

Reflections from the Church Fathers: "Worldly passions are directed toward things that perish with the present life. Let us then have nothing to do with these." Chrysostom, Homilies on Titus 5 

Gospel Reading: Luke 2:1-20 

Reflections from Church Fathers: "He was a baby and a child, so that you may be a perfect human. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that you may be freed from the snares of death. He was in a manger, so that you may be in the altar. He was on earth that you maybe in the stars. He had no other place in the inn, so that you may have many mansions in the heavens. He, being rich, became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich. Therefore his poverty is our inheritance, and the Lord's weakness is our virtue. He chose to lack for himself, that he may abound for all. The sobs of that appalling infancy cleanse me, those tears wash away my sins. Therefore, Lord Jesus, I owe more to your sufferings because I was redeemed than I do to works for which I was created." Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2.41-42.

For Further Reflection and Prayer: 
1. Jesus came as a baby. He was once as helpless and silly as my little Liam is.  Imagine God as a helpless babe. What does this say to you?
2. What worldly passions are you clinging to? Ask God to help you to abide with that which remains.
3. Re-read Ambrose's exposition. His statements are beautiful and true. How do they affect you?  How do you think they should affect you? What is stopping you from feeling that way?

Closing Prayer: "Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness. No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no one free from sin, came to free us all." Leo the Great.

Taken from Ancient Christian Devotional by ed. by Thomas C. Oden and Cindy Crosby