The
First Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
|
A
|
LMIGHTY
God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us
the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son
Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he
shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee
and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
Processional Hymn (included for our Reader audience):
LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, YE MIGHTY GATES
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!
Behold, the King of Glory waits;
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Savior of the world is here.
Life and salvation He doth bring,
Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing:
We praise Thee, Father, now,
Creator, wise art Thou!
A Helper just He comes to thee,
His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress,
The end of all our woe He brings;
Wherefore the earth is glad and sings:
We praise Thee, Savior, now,
Mighty in deed art Thou!
O blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the Ruler is confessed!
O happy hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless Sun of joy He is,
Who bringeth pure delight and bliss.
We praise Thee, Spirit, now,
Our Comforter art Thou!
Fling wide the portals of your heart;
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use for Heaven's employ,
Adorned with prayer and love and joy.
So shall your Sovereign enter in
And new and nobler life begin.
To Thee, O God, be praise
For word and deed and grace!
Redeemer, come! I open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
Let me Thy inner presence feel,
Thy grace and love in me reveal;
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious goal is won.
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name.
Georg Weissel
The COLLECT prayer for Advent makes reference
to two significant comings of Christ. The first as a man, born of a woman, to fulfill those promises
made sure in Abraham. His first coming was to save us from our sins and to bear
the severity of judgment due to all sinners. The second mention is of His
coming, not to be judged, but to receive His own and execute judgment against
all who have rejected Him.
Advent Season heralds the Coming of the
long-expected Jesus to save His people. The journey of Christ did not begin at
Bethlehem, but in the Council of Heaven long before the worlds were made.
As we learn concerning Abraham, Christ says
that Abraham longed to see His coming, and he saw it! The Coming of Christ
passed through the life of Abraham.
The same road of Christ Coming has passed
through the hearts of every Christian called and accepted. It is my prayer that
that road has led to your heart and not found a dead-end there. The Gospel text
(Luke 1:5-25) relates the preparation of the first coming of Christ in a
physical body for the redemption of our souls. He came as a babe in a manger.
However, John the Baptist was born of an aged mother, Elizabeth, by promise of
God through Gabriel, much like the birth of another Child of Promise, Isaac.
The miraculous birth of these two saints of God is dwarfed by that miracle of
virgin birth which will accompany the Birth of God's only Begotten Son.
The first coming was humble and quiet – the
Second shall light up the heavens with the Angel Choir and the trumpets of the
Lord. His first coming provoked contempt from the rulers and the wealthy. His
second coming shall strike fear and anguish into those rebellious hearts that
rejected His first visit.
The coming of Christ is at least
three-dimensional and not two. He came as a baby at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. He is coming again at
the consummation of all time. But He comes daily into the heart that is open to
His coming. But His coming is even more than these three examples.
The moment that it was decreed by God, in
eternity past before the worlds were made, Jesus was on that Coming Road. That
road stretches all the way to the distant past in the dimness of eternity
before time was. He has traveled that long road. Along the way, He has taken
mercy upon Abraham and received him into His Kingdom, He received Isaac and
Jacob and their spiritual Seed as well. In fulfillment and consummation of His
promise to be our Redeemer, that road led to Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth,
Galilee, Bethany, Sychar, and Jerusalem (to mention only a few examples).
That
Road led eventually to a hill called Calvary beyond the western gate of
Jerusalem where He died in payment of our sins upon the cross. The Road then led
to a lonely tomb in the Garden, and three days later, to a resurrected glory.
He walked the shores again of Galilee and witnessed to hundreds.
Then the Road led to the Mount from which
Christ rose into the glories of His Father. The Road of His coming does not
stop with the Ascension of Christ – it continues to the glorious Kingdom of His
Father where Christ is preparing a place for all who are the chosen and elect
of God.
The
Road continues on to that point in time, of God's own choosing, in which there
shall be no more time. Christ shall descend in glory riding upon a white horse,
and leading the Armies of Heaven. His glorious Person shall be too brilliant
for the sinner to behold. They shall hide in the covert rocks, and hide their
faces from the glaring brightness of His coming. Those who drove the crude
nails into His hands shall bow the knee along with Hitler and Mussolini, and
Stalin, and Mao, and all desperate sinners. But those who have received Him,
shall be received BY Him to join Him in the air.
Do you wonder about the date and time of Christ's coming? Fret not.
Perchance, He may come for you today. Rejoice in that hope.
Christ,
being the Word, is our Bread of Heaven – our very Bread of Life! And how is
Christ like Bread?
When
we eat physical bread, it must be handled with clean, sanitary hands and
vessels. The grain has been crushed as at Calvary. Many grains are crushed to
make the bread just as many saints are crushed by the world. (Abp Cranmer)
The
mixing of the bread is simple and plain without the adding of the leaven of
sin. We bake the bread well, and then take it into our mouths to chew well
before swallowing. This we do with God's Word. Our meditating on the Word is
our `chewing of it'.
We
do not gulp it down on Sunday's only, but take time to chew it well. We swallow
the bread and it goes deep into our bosoms to be digested and made into our
very body and cell tissue. God's Word, too, must become a constituent part of
our souls. The nutrients from the bread are then carried by the blood to every
cell in our bodies. The nutrients from the bread give us life and energy. So
does the Word of God, well-digested and delivered to every part of our heart (first)
and then our souls by the blood (Holy Ghost). If we fail to consume that
physical bread daily, we grow weak in strength (faith) and may even die without
that Bread of Life.
The
Bread is only formally taken in the Church at Holy Communion on special days of
observance, but it must be taken casually every day, every hour, and every
moment by those who love the Bread.
Have you had
your bread today?
