December 5, 2021 - Advent Week 2

 


Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the Heavens;

  praise him in the heights!

Praise him, all his angels;

  praise him, all his host!

 

Praise him sun and moon;

  praise him, all you shining stars!

Praise him, you highest heavens,

  and you waters above the heavens!  Psalm 148:1-4

 

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to

            your name give glory  Psalm 115:1

 

 

Advent II: Preparation

 

How do we prepare for the coming of the Lord?

 

Foreground the difficulty, counsels a friend of mine. I had a wrinkle in my personal life last week that sent my thoughts to an empty place. What if the forgiveness we crave, in earthly matters, is not available?

 

The Lord’s Prayer sometimes comes to me in moments like this. This time words of praise came. I said them—not as someone who delights in their meaning, but as a toddler grasping to steady herself .  As I began to praise God, the words seemed hollow, tinny, at first, like a ladder, but, like a ladder! Slowly, I began to feel myself climbing up and out of the abyss.

 

A church I used to attend had a problem with theft. After remarking that I couldn’t believe someone would steal from a church, the rector’s response surprised me: he gently shrugged and said, Everyone’s a sinner. This person’s sin is stealing. It was soon after this that the minister taught me the Jesus prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

 

“Sinner” is a label that seems uncomfortably stark. I have grown to see its role in the prayer in a different light, though: it foregrounds the difficulty. The prayer both separates us from and connects us to God. It lays plain that Jesus is our advocate. We appeal to the Creator’s grace, we appeal to Jesus, to hear us. It is a form of praise.

 

The psalmists call on us to “Praise the Lord!” This very act has the power to place us where we can move forward, as if for the first time.

 

God, in His mercy, gives us Advent to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

 

 

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

  for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a mighty saviour for us

  in the house of his servant David

that we would be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us.

 

Luke1:68-69, 71


  - Alison Goodwin 




Popular posts from this blog

December 1, 2021 - Advent Week 1

Image
      O nce again the cycle of the year rolls back to Advent. Each cycle has its beauty and trials. Advent is from the Latin Adventus meaning a coming or arrival. What in your life is coming or arriving in your life to make your life different? I always think of the advent of spring and waiting for the arrival of the flowers, warmer weather, longer days and new life.   Advent is when Christians await the arrival of our King. How are we preparing for the arrival of Christ? In your home getting ready for a guest to arrive takes time and preparation so all will go well when the guest arrives. For me getting the house clean and ready, spending time thinking about what will make my guest comfortable and welcome. How will the house be decorated, how will I dress, will everything be ready when my guest arrives? Today’s scripture from Amos 3:12-4:5   tells of how the Israelites were far from ready from being what God wanted them to be.   They kept sinning and wanting to co
Read more

November 30, 2021 - Advent Week 1

Image
    Lamb of God  (in Latin,  Agnus Dei ) is an oil painting completed between 1635 and 1640 by the Spanish  Baroque  artist  Francisco de Zurbarán . It is housed in the  Prado Museum  in  Madrid , Spain   “Come, all you who are thirsty,      come to the waters; and you who have no money,      come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk      without money and without cost.   Why spend money on what is not bread,      and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,      and you will delight in the richest of fare.   Give ear and come to me;      listen, that you may live.” Isaiah 55:1-3 “The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,   and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’” John 1:35-36 The word “come” appears 12 times in today’s readings. Of course it does! During Advent we hear and speak the word often. We repeat our request, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” The expression comes
Read more

December 20, 2021 - Advent Week 4

Image
    Fra Angelica, The Annunciation (ca. 1426) A Peaceable Life – with a Purpose The Ecumenical Lectionary functions – in part – to expose us to “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 KJV). So when the readings in the 4 th week of Advent take us through the Epistle to Titus, we should probably take it as a good admonition to read and pay heed. Yet at first appearances, finding something relevant to the season from the assigned passage for today seems a tall order: [Writes Saint Paul] 2  1-6  Your job [Titus] is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’
Read more