Advent Week 1 | Gates
“AND JACOB WAS AFRAID, AND SAID, ‘HOW AWESOME IS THIS PLACE! THIS IS NONE OTHER THAN THE HOUSE OF GOD, AND THIS IS THE GATE OF HEAVEN.”
GENESIS 28:17
Jacob sets out on a journey. On his way he stops for the night, finds a stone for a pillow, and settles into sleep, only to have his slumber disrupted by a vivid dream of a ladder travelled by angels, bridging the divide between heaven and earth, between the holy and human. God comes up close to Jacob, speaking promises of eternal blessing and companionship.
As we prepare for the birth of Jesus and the return of Christ, all around us God opens the gates of heaven, breaches whatever barriers we erect, and reveals ladders between the divine and dailiness in our lives. God arrives to stand beside us – to bless us and make us a blessing, even to all the families of the earth.
FOR REFLECTION
As you enter this season of Advent, where do you sense God’s close presence? How can you invite an awareness of God with you wherever you are?
Where do you encounter gates? What are they keeping in or keeping out? When you see a gate this week, imagine God breaching it and seeking out those on the other side.
How might you be blessed in order to be a blessing to all the families of the earth?
Lord, who knows no bounds and whose blessing is for all the families of the earth, forgive our limited vision and diminished imagination. Visit us in our vulnerability and open any gate that seeks to keep you at bay from any aspect of our lives. Open our eyes to see your angels all around us and unlatch our hearts to welcome you. Amen.
Join us on Thursday, December 9 from 12:00-12:30 for a virtual Lunchtime Book Talk with Jill Duffield, author of Advent In Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects. To register: karen@theologicalhorizons.org. Thanks to Jill for allowing us to adapt her book for these Advent e-devotionals!