Week #3 Nazareth’s Longing ...on her preparation for mission
Book: The Advent of God through Mary
Lesson #3 Based upon Chapters #2 & 3
Devotionals: Thursday - Wednesday
Chapter #2 "Mary's Descent from Nazaret to Jerusalem"
Thursday: Story 6—Papa’s House.
Friday: Story 7--Mary's Treasure
Saturday: Story 8—The Revelation
Sunday: My Thoughts 6—Divine Mysteries
Chapter #3 Nazareth’s Longing ...on her preparation for mission
Monday: My Thoughts 7—The Long Wait
Tuesday: Story 9—Hope’s Birth
Wednesday: My Thoughts 8—The Secret Inside Hope
Note: Our Bible Study is on Thursdays, so we covering the balance of the current Devotional
Sanctity Involves both Descent & Ascent..
Q: To which of your parents did you turn when you sought affirmation or wanted to celebrate some new accomplishment or discovery? Why that parent?
Q: To which of your parents did you turn when you sought comfort or support in pain or sadness or trauma ? Why that parent?
Part 1 Descent (SummaryThemes of Chapter Two)
Hunger for Sanctity
“I believe that, where the Lord sees the small point of poverty, extenuation, helplessness… He Himself cannot refuse to enter this anguish, to take flesh in it so to speak, making it instantly a small seed of infinite joy and peace and solitude in the world…this precious poverty, this seed of tears which is also the seed of true joy. Demonstrations and distractions that try to take one away from this are futile. The can become infidelities if they are eagerly sought.”
Thomas Merton, re-quoted in “Advent and Christmas” from “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” page #47
Merton writes that our poverty, be it of choices or pleasures denied or as expressed in weary work or the heart’s longing delayed; These poverties become for us seeds of holy—Joy.
Q: Sanctity- Define it. What does sanctity look like, feel like? (Use no religious language, if possible. In simple human language describe it).
[Responses: Close Friendship, A priority that shapes everything in our life, Integrity, sacrificing, even at great cost, Wonder, Simplicity, like the heart felt gifts a child gives to a parent-pictures the are drawn, water they've pored into a dirty glass. Once the child becomes aware that the parent will delight at their smile or joke or whatever. then the simplicity begins to fade as the child pursues the approval or delight of the parent in place of or along side an expression of affection. Having become self-aware their gifts change from simple expressions of love toward entertainment or approval.]
Q: Has there ever been a season or moment, any period of time, when you felt your life a gifting, a sanctity or sanctuary in a world of chaos? Describe what you mean.
Q: Why are 'sanctity' and 'sanctimonious' so closely related? ..hypocrisy and sanctity? What is the essential difference between 'sanctity' and 'sanctimony' or 'hypocrisy' or 'faking it'?
Q: Is there anyone you've known who epitomizes 'sanctity'? What qualities did they possess that you found attractive? Do we sometimes confuse "charm" with "sanctity"? What's the difference?
Teaching: Mary lived and breathed this quality of humility and charism (gifting of The Holy Spirit) flowing from life. It was surely part of the reason God chose her. Perhaps the singular reason.
But this devotion to what is vital, embracing others like a friend-both stranger and neighbor alike, seeing suffering and moving toward the need has several qualities.
Sanctity is:
1) A derived quality from her relations to her Creator.
2) Nurtured in sorrow, loneliness, rejection (as is the case now, for Mary) and in celebrations of joy such as the wedding at Canaan.
Three qualities seem to be repeated in her life:
A) Surrender as a creative response to both difficulties and joys. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.” (Luke 1:38 NIV) and;
B) Reflective Living; seeing God's heart and impressions in life. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19 NIV), and;
C) Action toward the needs of others. “When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”” (John 2:3-5 NIV).
Q: Where have you seen each of these in her life?
Part 2 Descent (SummaryThemes of Chapter Two)-Application
Human Response to Sanctity
(Based upon Philippians chapter 3)
The Whatever referenced is Paul's attempts at "sanctity" by human effort apart from God's initiative, Christ's Presence"
"But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
Philippians 3:7-11
Thomas Merton
"Like that of her son, Mary’s own pilgrimage to the holy place of God’s dwelling was in poverty, empty of all that she held dear. As she looked upon Zion, all she could do was weep, as her son would later. The grace that Mary gives in all her earthly life is her being ‘willing’. It is the grace that we all must discover if we are to allow Jesus of Nazareth to find full birth in us." pg #40
1st: Note how in this book the author keeps mirroring in the imagined stories "a prequel" of Jesus own life.
I always noticed when preaching, that I tended to live during the week.the themes of the coming (next week's) sermon i would be preaching. It was strange, predictable-even when preaching the Liturgical Calendar or a sermon series (where topics are pre-chosen) .
Although these stories are, at best, only partially 'actual,' the pattern of Divine Providence shaping our lives is woven into the "sanctity" of the universe. We who follow Jesus will not be surprised at the Work of the Spirit in forming in us the very life of Jesus-in Joy and in sorrow.
That is because in Jesus human life God has entered into the human experience, each of our human experiences, before we even get there, sharing in, drawing out the cruciform life of sacrificial gifting-our human love poured out into the world as Christ's human life-now alive in us, through us.
2nd-This is not something we should seek to create either in sorrow or joy; as we will then be like the innocence of a young child pleasing their parents in great delight as they smile or gift us with a truly horrible painting. It is the gifting and heart that matters. Once the child realizes they are "entertaining," the magic of their gifts start to wear off, lost in self-awareness; doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Performance and entertainment replaces the earlier desire to just please the parent.
This works only as we, like Mary, are "willing" and surrender ourselves to the surprises that come by way of "sorrow" and "joy".. often a mix of both.
Note: Holy Communion, in Catholic tradition, is the one meeting place where The Eternal Son communes directly and not through The Holy Spirit; though ever with The Spirit. Hence their doctrine of the "real presence" of Jesus in the bread and wine; Which by the way, was not a scientific statement but a philosophical one based upon "idealism" in the early centuries of the church.
Idealism: Everything is 1st in the mind of The.Creator--long before it takes the Shape we see in mass. Hence, the "idea" of the bread and wine is changed in the heart or mind of God such that, when received--by faith--the bread and wine are the actual body and blood of atonement in its very essence; Christ really present, The Spirit shaping in our heart the willing surrender and faith to receive.
See: my blog where I explore the same in post-modern philosophy, which I believe is the best world view in conveying the unique gift of Christ's real presence.
(Note: this is not what the Church of the Nazarene teaches).
The CoTN, at its best emphasizes, that in the memorial or iconic memory of the 1st Communion, we by and in the Spirit experience the "real Presence" of Jesus alive & interceding for us, made real in us through The Holy Spirit. Both the resurrected and ascended Jesus and The Spirit forming in our Story, Jesus Story are the direct result of the atonement made in time by sacrifice..
If true, then spiritually we are at the same Table of the 12 and every communion since, right down to the current era.
Q: How does Merton's idea that God is radically committed to form Jesus life in us by first experiencing all that we do, desiring--if we allow--to write God's own Sons story into each of ours, just as God does in Mary's life?
Q: Where have you seen God shape your life most fully? In:
A) Surrender as a creative response to both difficulties and joys, or;
B) Reflective Living; seeing God's heart and impressions in life, or;
C) Action toward the needs of others?
Q: When you pray in sorrow, to whom do you imagine praying? (Jesus, Spirit, Father)
Q: When you pray in Joy, to whom do you imagine praying? (Jesus, Spirit, Father)
[This defection did not take in discussion-as all indicated they think of God as One and hence praying to Jesus is praying to God, Praying to the Spirit is likewise praying to God. So I reflected upon my own experience and briefly reminded:
Reflection-- In sorrow I tend to pray or sing or write in the Spirit, to the Spirit. In Joy I almost always speak to or listen to Jesus. Holy Communion, wether in joy or sorrow are increasingly felt as dialogue in Jesus/The eternal Son and ofcourse ever formed within by The Spirit.
Reminder: The Trinity of God are Three distinct persons with personalities and charisms, so 'in union' by love and in love and through love as to be One in essential nature.
Encouraged: Allow The Father, Spirit & Sons voice within to increasingly have their own unique signature.]
Part 3 Ascent (Deeper into Chapter Two)
Part 3 Papa's House pg 42-44
Visual:
Teaching: Once again we are exploring in this book a Prequal to Gods own coming back to God's house in Jesus, but now through Mary's pursuit of both Zecharish snf God.
Q: With what or whom do we see Mary wrestling in dis-comfort over the"sanctity" or lack there of in Pappa's House?
Q: When you look upon thr evangelical Christisn community:
1) What in Christs's church do you celebrate?
2) What do you struggle with? ..Pray will change in us to live this sacrificing, celebrating good news?
Discussion focused on 3 things:
A) A great strength was rooting every believer into a direct, experiential 'knowing' of God. We each shared our earliest memories of God as children; the deep and abiding sense of God's unconditional love.
Caution: This gift of emotive presence is affected by many things having nothing to do with 'sanctity' or spiritual health, such as:
- Personality-persons are created to receive and process information differently.
- Childhood Trauma's or Later Trauma's can profoundly impact our ability to receive emotionally rooted sensations.
- Sickness (mental or physical) overwhelms our bodies with anxiety or pain drowning out emotional rooted sensations or impressions.
- Depression or Sorrow radically alters, sometimes for very long period, our empathic sensabilities as empty numbness overwhelms.
Example of 1&2 above: My mentor, friend and the person in my life whom I perceive a saint, would sometimes confess an inability to "feel" God. Yet Aaron Knapp, whom I knew well over 40 years never once demonstrated a spirit other than love.
B) The greatest felt disappointment is in churches that feel like intimate strangers. The connections limited to hi and bye from largely meaningful worship services.
Intimate-Strangers is the celebratory pattern felt at Pikes Place Market, as each of the workers are engaged in light and humorous conversation, as if neighbors in a small village. Even the customers are brought in to the casual fun; all going on as slippery. wet, fresh fish are passed along by the crew in the air as the thrower call out "fish flying". It's all larger than life and beacons back to a time when employees and customers alike knew each casually. Finally the employee at the register catches the fish, rings it up and completes the transaction; all satisfied for doing their part.
All too often the modern world, the church sounds and feels like The Pikes Place Fish market, all light and
comfortable.. yet empty relationally. A place of 'intimate strangers!'
Q: To whom or where do you go to confess or share sorrow?
Q: To whom or where do you go to celebrate life?
Part 4 Ascent (Chapter Three)
Based on "Nazareth's Longing"
A) "The Long Wait" ...upon God's Initiative
pg #55-56
Q: What did you think or feel when Terry wrote into the Story Joseph's sudden appearance just as The Baptist was being delivered?
- Ofcourse, it would likely have happened
- Mmmm.. That changes things a bit
- No way!!! Too soon.
Q: What does change with Joseph's arrival? What remains the same? What are they facing in Nazareth?
“It is only the infinite mercy and love of God that has prevented us from tearing ourselves to pieces and destroying His entire creation long ago...On the contrary, consider how in spite of centuries of sin and greed and lust and cruelty and hatred and avarice and oppression and injustice, spawned and bred by the free wills of men, the human race can still recover, each time, and can still produce men and women who overcome evil with good, hatred with love, greed with charity, lust and cruelty with sanctity. How could all this be possible without the merciful love of God, pouring out His grace upon us?”
Thomas Merton, re-quoted in “Advent and Christmas” from “The Seven Storey Mountain,” page #5
Teaching: A central thesis in both Biblical and certainly Wesleyan theology is that 'the image of God', though deeply marred in Adam's sin, is not entirely lost.
What is too often forgotten is that this capacity for love, loving action, rational thought that can distinguish truth from lie, good from evil, is the direct result of God gracious Presence in the universe by means of The Sons incarnation and The Spirit being poured out into the earth. These are gifts given to all Creation generally and interiorly in The Spirit.
Every act of human love that rises above self-interest is God enabled or made possible. Even our faith, ability to respond is a grace of God fully present.
So complete is gracious and loving Presence, that all of the sins or wounds or infirmities (mental health, physical health) that flow directly from the contagion of our 1st parents rebellion is already forgiven, covered, atoned for. Only our own freely chosen sins are only "provisionally forgiven." Such is the nature of God's kindly heart toward his children. We no longer need to fear God, only ourselves living away from God. God is reconciled to all of humanity.
What this doctrine of Prevenient grace does is:
1) Keep salvation ever within the reach of "faith acting",, and;
2) Allow humanity, though wounded to ever respond to one another in kindness. If only.
3) Universalizes salvations reach without removing human responsibility, and;
4) Recognizes human reason and education as graces from God when consistent with God's character, but insufficient for salvation in and of themselves.
Note: There is an appropriate fear or sense of awe and even creaturely dread that attends us, in God's presence, that properly remains, I think. Lest arrogance reign in us and we are tempted to test the boundaries.
B) "The Long Wait" ...for Human Response
pg #55-56
From: My Thoughts on pages 55-56
"Mary’s days, her nights were filled with concern for Elizabeth’s needs. Being an older woman and pregnant brought with it risks to both mother and child, Mary knew. Elizabeth’s days, her nights were filled with concern for Mary’s needs. Being a young woman, betrothed only and that now in question, separated from her mama and papa, all brought stresses that Elizabeth knew placed mother and child at risk. Theirs was a shared experience, an emotional attachment deeper than the best of friendships. Increasingly their long conversations, running late into wintery nights, turned to the wonder of what the births of their children could mean for Israel and her world. One thing they both felt: Yahweh was acting to bring all of Abraham’s promises to the world, and soon."
Q: How is this relation a perfect example of of "Christian love? How do?
Read the two responses of Zechariah and Mary to God's gracious gifting in their lives.
Contrast and compare:
Q: What is the focus of each?
Q: Where in Mary's Magnificabt do you see Jesus?
Finally:
Q: What Story does God wish to write in your life?
Looking forward to our next Prime Time conversation on Jan 8, 2026
Please prep: for January 8th
Week #3 Nazareth's Longing
Thursday - Story 10—All Seemed Well
Friday - Story 11—Jacob's Well
Saturday - Story 12—Home
Sunday - Story 13—Broken Hearts, Wounded Souls
Week #4 Bethlehem's Surrender
Monday - 14—The Prophecy
Tuesday - My Thoughts 9—Mary, The Royal Way
Wednesday - Story 15—A Shepherd’s Heart
Going Forward: In January we will finish this study within three weeks.
Note: Depending on Pastor Dennis's & Pastor Jamie's health and as God would lead him, we will either continue this study for 3 sessions, January 8, 15, and 22 or wrap with a broad summary and move on to new things.
Blessings! Terry
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