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I Hope He Comes

30/11/2018

A Reflection on the Gospel for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent

Luke 21.25-28, 34-36

Jesus spoke to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

“Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Throughout the centuries there have been portents and prophecies that the Lord’s return is imminent. Billy Graham thought it would be in his lifetime. Understandable, given what’s been happening in the world over the last 100 years. Tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes in parts of Canada that have never experienced one before, strange weather patterns that cannot all be attributed to global warming, wars and killer diseases with no antidotes, escalation of teenage suicide, divorce, human trafficking, abortion. Many people live in fear that the end is near; but we do not know the time. And because we do not know the time, we need to be ready ALL the time. Readiness for the coming of the Lord; a new heaven and a new earth.

“Thy kingdom come” is our hope as Christians, not our fear. All the more reason to proclaim the Good News in word and deed; to show the world that there is One who has conquered death and sin and promises a resurrection life. The words, “Do not be afraid”, are spoken by every angel.

We are moving into the season of Advent and some of the readings for this season are in the apocalyptic book of Revelation. Advent is not just the season in which we prepare for the birth of the Christ child, Jesus, it is also about preparing for His second coming. This is our hope. “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end” (from The Nicene Creed). If we really believe this, then we have hope beyond measure.

"Advent is not just the season in which we prepare for the birth of the Christ child, Jesus, it is also about preparing for His second coming. This is our hope."

Isaiah the Prophet says, “By waiting and by calm you shall be saved” (Isaiah 30:15), and so in this season of Advent — we wait.

For Christmas.
For the light to penetrate the darkness.
For meaning when so much seems meaningless.
For hope in a world that has lost hope.
For a peace that is incomprehensible, because it comes in the midst of chaos.

And most of all, we wait for perfect Love — a love that comes with the words “do not be afraid”.

A Love worth waiting for.

Judy Savoy

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Prepare Him Room

29/11/2018

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A Reflection on the Second Reading for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent

1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2

May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.

Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Love. Love. Love. As soon as I read the words, the Beatles song popped into my head. That song that my mother used to play for us and that found its way onto the soundtrack of a million and one movies. The backing vocals “Love. Love. Love.” repeating over and over again so many times that they become noise. I remember as a kid, getting lost in the repetition. I remember the feeling when it was like a meditation that drew me away but didn’t fill me with anything but deafening silence.

But what Saint Paul is talking about isn’t the love chanted so many times it runs the risk of becoming totally meaningless. Saint Paul is talking about a kind of love that is filling, overflowing, life changing. As we step through the liturgical door into Advent, bathed in regal and expectant purple, the love waiting for us at the other end isn’t sticky, saccharine pink, but deep, saturated, blood red. It’s a love that allows itself to be contained but cannot ever be truly contained. It is love that is entirely vulnerable in the tiny child, but also mighty to save in the man crucified on the cross. It’s a love that means everything and that changes everything.

"Saint Paul is talking about a kind of love that is filling, overflowing, life changing."

When I think of Christ’s love, shown to us in His incarnation, death, and resurrection, and then I compare it to my own attempts at love, I realize how much mine is like that Hallmark valentine, “Love. Love. Love” and how little mine is like the sacrificial love of Christ. Luckily, Saint Paul has some words of encouragement for me today. He reminds me that I can appeal to Jesus to make me more capable of a love like His.

There’s another song, an old hymn that, like the Beatles song, has its own fair share of repetition: “Let every heart prepare Him room”. What does preparing room for Christ really look like? Preparing room for Christ is so much more than cleaning your house and putting on your best clothes, it means making room in our hearts themselves. Last week we said goodbye to a very dear family member. The grief of her sudden passing strained my heart, but that stretching grief also made room in my heart for trust, faith, and hopefully for more of Christ’s love.

"Preparing room for Christ is so much more than cleaning your house and putting on your best clothes, it means making room in our hearts themselves."

Let us Pray:

Dear Jesus, this Advent may you use all the circumstances of our lives to stretch our hearts to make room for you, and fill our hearts with Your love. Amen.

Stephanie Potter

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Soul Mates

28/11/2018

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A Reflection on the Psalm for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent

PSALM 25

To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.

Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour.

Saturday night past, the church was vibrating with wonderful songs of praise and prayer to the Lord (The Psalms themselves were once sung with such conviction). Deacon Dave asked many of us to move closer to the front; God is good! I happened to find myself standing beside a young girl of about 11 years. She sang from her soul and raised her hands and was involved in the prayer, and in the rhythms and melodies which carried that prayer. At one point I smiled at her, and she beamed as she told me she did not know all the songs, but she would listen and she would try to learn them. It occurred to me that Mary wasn't much older than this child when she was expecting Jesus. I imagine that having given her Fiat, she would have prayed Psalm 25. Such a simple prayer asking God to "teach her His paths". It is so easy to complicate things in life; to be caught up with the noise and confusion of life. This Psalm speaks a simple request, "to know His ways and to walk in His truth". It asks us to be open to the lessons which the Lord offers, and to declare, as the young girl in the pew sang, "... for You are God, my Savior".

To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.

The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
he guides the humble in the right path;
he teaches his way to the poor.

There is a lovely old hymn that begins, "What a friend we have in Jesus". Jesus not only shows us the error of our ways, but if we desire His guidance, He guides us back to Him. Being widowed, I often worry about finances and carefully tally up the month's spending. And yet, I don't seem to take stock of my spiritual poverty. Jesus teaches us to empty ourselves (easier said than done). He teaches us that "His way" will lead us on the right path.

To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.

His ways are faithfulness and love
for those who keep his covenant and will.
The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;
to them he reveals his covenant.

It is said that we have many acquaintances in our lifetime, but few true friends. It is such a blessing to have a true friend to share the joys and sorrows of our lives; one that will always be honest and yet caring and understanding. I have such appreciation and faith in my close friends. But keeping in touch is an important part of maintaining a friendship. Such conversations are precious. Jesus offers us faithfulness and love, and all I have to do is believe in Him and converse with Him. The better I get to know Him, the deeper our friendship.

What better time than Advent to ponder Mary, daily talking to her Son and Savior in her womb. Following her example, we too can daily renew our friendship with Him.

To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.

"What better time than Advent to ponder Mary, daily talking to her Son and Savior in her womb.
Following her example, we too can daily renew our friendship with Him."

Lynda Tyler

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Longing to be Right

27/11/2018

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A Reflection on the First Reading for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah 33.14-16

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

It’s all about righteousness.

… a righteous Branch
… righteousness in the land
… Jerusalem renamed ‘the Lord is our righteousness.’

The people of Israel were suffering, mostly by their own hand, but they were longing for a way out of the corner they’d backed themselves into — a way out into a spacious place. Reaching toward Him coming, the Messiah. There is a longing for things to be right.

Advent is a time of longing. Even the Latin word itself speaks this. It’s a mishmash of two words: ad (towards) + venit (comes).

I took Latin in high school for no particular reason other than it seemed peculiar. That, and maybe because I was intrigued by the teacher, Mrs. Schram, who was so tiny. Her husband taught me English and he was simply huge. Fun thing with a latin verb — you don’t need to put a pronoun in front of it to know who’s up to something. The doer of the action is buried in the letter at the end of the verb. If it had been venio, it would be I am coming. If it had been venis, it would be you are coming. But it is venit, so it’s he, or it, is coming. This has been my repeated internal battle of December. Am I living in the tension of 'it' is coming, Christmas with all the bells and whistles and demands? Or am I living in the tension of 'He' is coming? Jesus. The long-awaited One. The One coming to make things right.

"Am I living in the tension of 'it' is coming, Christmas with all the bells and whistles and demands? Or am I living in the tension of 'He' is coming?
Jesus. The long-awaited One. The One coming to make things right."

God promised, irrevocably, “I shall cause a righteous Branch to spring up… and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” But the completely unimaginable way He made things right! He does not execute justice by bringing down a gavel, or righteousness by brandishing a sceptre. If He had, not only would Israel’s enemies not survive, but Israel herself would not survive. I would not survive. He executes righteousness, not with a gavel or a sceptre, but with a living breathing Branch, a baby. He gives us His son, to take on what we earned by backing ourselves into a corner. To become our righteousness, because He knew it was the only way through to the spacious place near Him. Jerusalem’s new name says it all, “The Lord is our righteousness”.

"He gives us His son, to take on what we earned by backing ourselves into a corner.
To become our righteousness, because He knew it was the only way through to the
spacious place near Him."

When Israel expressed a longing for righteousness, it spread out past the boundaries of someone’s moral standing and flooded into the rightness of everything, of existence. God was going to make all things right, no longer bent or twisted. And that's what’s behind the words spoken to a young Israeli girl, our Mother, by a being of light, “… you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus…” (Luke 1:31). Saviour.

Let us Pray:

My God, I hold on to this. In this season of longing for rightness, You are our righteousness. All that is bent or twisted around me, or in me, I entrust to You — our beautiful Branch.

Noreen Smith

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I Hope He Comes

A Reflection on the Gospel for December 2nd, 2018:​First Sunday of Advent

Prepare Him Room

A Reflection on the Second Reading for December 2nd, 2018:First Sunday of Advent

Soul Mates

A Reflection on the Psalm for December 2nd, 2018: ​First Sunday of Advent

Longing to be Right

A Reflection on the First Reading for December 2nd, 2018:First Sunday of Advent

Archives

A Reflection on the Gospel for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent

A Reflection on the Second Reading for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent

A Reflection on the Psalm for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent

A Reflection on the First Reading for December 2nd, 2018:
First Sunday of Advent