The season of Advent begins this Sunday, December 2, in the Western Church. I will be providing a short daily meditation on Scripture each day leading up to Christmas. The meditations will be based upon the daily office readings in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and will focus on the Old Testament readings from the Holy Prophet Isaiah. I pray that all who journey with Isaiah toward Christmas will be challenged and refreshed as they celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior and look forward to his coming again!
The Season of Advent
Joyful Expectation and Thoughtful Preparation
Origins
Advent simply means “coming” and is derived from the Latin adventus. During the four weeks before Christmas we look forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as king and judge at the end of time and look back to his coming as our Savior 2,000 years ago. In the West the tradition developed by setting apart the four weeks prior to Christmas as the season of preparation. The Eastern Christian churches prepare for the birth of the Savior by observing a fast for forty days similar to the fast observed during Lent.
Themes
The Incarnation: we celebrate the fact that God became man in order to save us.
The Second Coming: we look forward to the time when Jesus will come again to usher in his mighty reign.
Preparation: we examine our hearts, our relationship with God and with others and seek to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ in light of the Incarnation and in preparation for the Second Coming.
Advent Customs
The Advent Wreath: The circle of the wreath and the evergreens that make it up both signify God’s endless mercy and undying love. Three purple candles and one rose-colored (pink) candle are evenly spaced around the wreath. There is one larger white candle in the center of the wreath. The candles traditionally symbolize hope, love, joy, peace and the Incarnation. The evergreens represent eternal life. Each week, an additional candle is lit. As the light grows brighter, we are reminded that the Light of the World will soon arrive in glory.
Fasting: abstaining from certain foods and activities teaches us to hunger and thirst for God and his Kingdom and reminds us of our dependence on him.
Prayer: conversing with God draws us deeper into union with him strengthens our life-giving relationship with the Author of Life.
Almsgiving: giving to the poor reminds us of the call to care for those around us in need and to share the blessings that God has given to us.
O come let us worship God our King.
O come let us worship and fall down before Christ our King and God.
O come let us worship and fall down before Christ Himself, our King and God.
The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!
Your decrees are very trustworthy;
holiness befits your house,
O Lord, forevermore.
Psalm 93
Over the past several weeks I have heard many people express their concern for the country, their frustration with the presidency and their anger about the economy, war, health care, gay marriage, etc.
I respect their opinions and their feelings and their right to have them.
But I worry sometimes. I worry that the church, both the right and left wings (for back of better terminology) are losing sight of one very significant truth: Jesus it the King. And we, as his followers, are to be about the work of ushering in his Kingdom, those places where he is Supreme, where he is Lord, where he is in charge. Because that is what it means for him to be our King. And I don't see any of that going on in the halls of Washington, or for that matter, in the halls of many churches or city council meetings. Jesus transcends party platforms and agendas. Those things are all well and good, but not if our loyalty and passion for them supplants, distorts or misdirects our loyalty to and passion for the True King, Jesus Christ.
Sermon from November 18th.
http://www.allsaintsspringfield.org/sermons-adult-ed-/sermons.html
Lessons: Jeremiah 29:1-14
Hebrews 10:31-39
Mark 13:14-23
Grazie, Signore, for Your lips twisted in love to accommodate my sinful self; for judging me not by my shabby good deeds but by Your love that is Your gift to me; for Your unbearable forgiveness and infinite patience with me; for other people who have greater gifts than mine; and for the honesty to acknowledge that I am a ragamuffin. When the final curtain falls and You summon me home, may my last whispered word on earth be the wholehearted cry, Grazie, Signore.
~Antonio Salieri
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
~Luke 15:1-7 (ESV)
As a kid I remember helping to care for our families small flock of sheep. Early in the morning we would take turns going out to the barn with Dad to feed and water the sheep. During lambing season we would wait with excitement to see if any new lambs had been born the previous night. We would wash them and wrap them in blankets and feed them from a bottle until they were strong enough to be with the rest of the flock. Caring for the sheep required a great deal of gentleness and compassion. From time to time a lamb or even a full grown sheep might get stuck in an opening in the wire fence and need to be freed. At other times they might wiggle their way all the way through an opening and roam free, at risk of being struck by a car or falling into a ditch and injuring themselves. On top of that, even if they found their way back to the pasture, they couldn't figure out how to get back inside the fence they had escaped from. Typically someone would call our house to tell us that one of the sheep was out and we would go and find them, and lead them or carry them back inside the fold.
I have been reading and re-reading this passage from St. Luke's Gospel for about four months now and am continually amazed by what it says about God, about his love and his commitment to finding us when we get ourselves lost and in harm's way. I am grateful that elsewhere Jesus says that he is indeed the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11,14).
So often we are like sheep, trying to escape from the pasture only to find ourselves afraid, alone, lost and in harm's way. We think that by leaving the pasture we will find freedom and wholeness and "self-actualization." The reality is we are made for the pasture, we are made for the sheep fold. We are made to be tended by the Shepherd of our souls.
Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your statutes.
The choir of the saints has found the fountain of life and the door of
Paradise. May I also find the way through repentance, the sheep that
was lost am I, call me up to You, O Savior, and save me.
~Evlogetaria for the Dead
Dear friends and strangers,
Beginning this December 2 I want to invite you to join me in a journey through the season of Advent. Advent is a season of preparation, a reminder of the waiting of Israel for their redemption. We reflect upon the mystery of the Incarnation and the reality that redemption has come in the person of Jesus Christ. We also take this time to reflect, wait and prepare for the reality that he will come again. It is a season that involves the past, present and future.
Beginning on December 2 I will be posting a short daily devotion for each day of Advent and including Christmas Day. These short meditations will be on the Daily Office readings assigned in the Book of Common Prayer. I will be focusing on the Old Testament lesson each day, which will be from the book of Isaiah through the season. It will be an opportunity to journey through Advent through the eyes of the prophet Isaiah.
I offer these meditations with the hope and prayer that you will be blessed by them this Advent, that they will encourage and challenge you to reflect with joy on Christ's coming as the Savior of the world and to look with hope to his coming again in glory.
I will post again as the time draws near.
Grace & Peace,
Micah
