Week 2 Advent Lectio Divina meditation. Content derived from Jan Johnson's advent devotion book "Taste & See". Read by Denise Dynes.

Joy to the Earth, The Saviour reigns;

Let Men their Songs employ;

While Fields & Floods, Rocks, Hills & Plains

Repeat the sounding Joy.

Content provided by Jan Johnson's book Taste And See. Reading by George White.

Joy to the World; The Lord is come;

Let Earth receive her King:

Let every Heart prepare him Room,

And Heaven and Nature sing.

We prepare room in our hearts to worship Jesus.

A brief introduction to Lectio Divina and Advent.

Gavin & Micah respond to 4 questions that were submitted on the "Question Everything" page on the Axiom App.

There are few stories more disturbing than this.... Jephthah, a social outcast from a broken home, is possessed by God’s Spirit and makes a brash promise to God. He proclaims that he will sacrifice a human being in order to gain a victory. In the end, Jephthah’s promise forces him into a position where he must sacrifice his only daughter in order to fulfill that promise. In the midst of this tragedy there is the character of Jephthah’s daughter, who willing submits to this brutal act. What’s worse: God allows the sacrifice to happen. Jesus says he is everywhere in scripture, so where is he in this? Although the story is tragic, we find in the person of Jephthah’s daughter the Spirit of Christ typified. In her willing surrender to death, we see Jesus himself revealed, the innocent one who dies for the sake of broken sinners...

In the erotic language of the Song of Solomon Christian commentators have often found a metaphor for the deep, intimate relationship between Jesus and the Church, or Jesus and individual believers (in fact, this is where the romantic language found in modern worship songs finds its precedence). In fact, Jesus repeatedly refers to himself as the “bridegroom”.... So, how do we find Jesus in this romance poem? Can we see Jesus as our lover?

We respond to the question asked "Does Axiom Do Alter Calls?" Submit your questions on the Axiom Church app!

Jacob is alone one evening, stressed by the prospect of having to confront his estranged brother. Wait, no. Really, he is terrified. Terrified that his brother Esau is on his way to try to kill him. As he waits by the river for his brother, a strange man comes to Jacob in the night and wrestles with him. In the end, Jacob gets things to a stalemate and ends up with the new name, Israel; or, “he who wrestles with God.” Jesus is the incarnate, or embodied presence of God in the world, so can this moment by the river help us affirm Jesus to be the God who allows human beings to wrestle with him and to doubt?