Daily Devotional for Small Group Discussion: Silver and Gold

by Martha Spong | published on Dec 2, 2024

Discussion Questions 

  1. Before discussion, read Revelation 15:1-4. Then read the devotional below, “Silver and Gold.”  
  1. What is the mood of the music you are listening to these days? What type(s) of music do you typically listen to during December/Advent?  
  1. How are you feeling confronted by “revelation angels” with their message of new possibilities?  
  1. What is your Advent prayer for the world as God calls it to be? 

Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended. – Revelation 15:1 (NRSVUE) 

When our adult children and their families arrive for Christmas, our favorite soundtrack for the season is Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas, his homey recordings as much a part of our blended family traditions as grits casserole, Swedish meatballs, and cornflake cookies. We sing along with his raucous, joyful “O Holy Night,” until we are hoarse. 

When Sufjan released another seasonal compilation, Silver and Gold, my musician son was excited to give it to me. But it is not the same. The soundscape is eerie, even threatening.  

It is Revelation Advent.  

These angels embody the end of God’s wrath, but only because it is the end of the world as we know it.  

Sometimes it takes an apocalypse to make space for a new beginning: the end of a job, a marriage, or a dream. These angels force a renovation of our self-understanding. The glorifying of old ways must do more than diminish. Until that glow flickers out, we cannot perceive the glimmer of something new.  

While I hesitate to look for these angels, I know at certain times in life we must confront their existence and hear their discordant tones and feel the angry heat or the disapproving chill they bring. I have done it, and I will again.  

Our hope lies not in noisy games at the dining room table or a cozy rewatch of It’s a Wonderful Life, but in the disruptive possibilities of a new life to come. 

Prayer
Holy One, open us to your righteous anger toward the world as it is and your in-breaking vision for the world as it should be. Amen.

Martha Spong About the Author
Martha Spong is a UCC pastor, a clergy coach, and editor of The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle, from The Pilgrim Press.