Advent
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Monday, November 28th, 2011December 4th - Second Sunday in Advent
(5:00 p.m. Saturday December 3 Holy Eucharist)
8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
4:00 p.m. Evensong with potluck to follow
December 11th - Third Sunday in Advent
(5:00 p.m. Saturday December 10 Holy Eucharist)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
10:00 a.m. Christmas Pageant and Pot Luck to follow in the
Parish Hall
December 18th - Fourth Sunday in Advent
(5:00 p.m. Saturday December 17 Holy Eucharist)
8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
10:00 a.m. Lessons and Carols with Holy Eucharist
December 24th - Christmas Eve
7:00 p.m. Family Service
9:30 p.m. Traditional Holy Communion
December 25th - Christmas Day
9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
Advent
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011Advent is a season of four weeks of preparation before Christmas. The word Advent means “coming” and refers to the coming of Jesus Christ.
During Advent we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ coming in history at Bethlehem — the First Advent. We celebrate, as well, the Second Advent. Jesus comes to us now as we gather in his name to hear God’s Word and share in the blessed bread and wine of the Eucharist and since Jesus will come to us in the future, we anticipate and prepare for his coming in majesty at the end of time.
Like many other churches we, at St. John’s, use an Advent Wreath as a visual way of moving through the four Sundays of Advent. The wreath’s circle shape has no beginning or ending, symbolising God’s love which began before the beginning and never ends. The three blue and one pink candle’s are progressively lit on each Sunday. This increasing light helps us focus on the coming into the world of Jesus, the light of the world. The blue candles of aniticipation symbolise hope, peace, and love. The pink candle symbolises the joy of reconciliation. At the centre of the wreath is the white Christ candle which is lit on Christmas Eve. Just as Jesus is at the centre of our lives, the centre of our church and centre of Advent/Christmas — the Christ candle is at the centre of the Advent wreath.
We have two manger scenes (one outside–one inside). The manger scene (chrèche) was popularised by St. Francis of Assisi around 1200 AD (CE) when he created one in a cave near his village using live animals and people. St. Francis wanted to revitalise devotion to Jesus as Christmas apporached. During Advent, the baby Jesus is not part of the scene. He is added on Christmas Eve.
The Christtmas Tree (a traditional offering from a parish family) appears at St. John’s on or about the third Sunday in Advent. It is an evergreen symbol of everlasting life — the eternal life with God offered us by Jesus.
OF Note:
In December, on the first Sunday of Advent at 6:30 pm at Bethel Pentecostal we join with several other local churches for an evening of carol singing, listening to the Biblical Christmas Story, and enjoying anthems by church choirs to support the work of the Salvation Army’s Christmas Hamper programme. Both our junior and senior choirs offer their time and talent to enrich this important outreach project.
In December, on the third Sunday in Advent our 10:00 am Holy Eucharist will take place in the upper hall as our Sunday School present their Christmas pageant. Refreshments and a time of fellowship follow this service.
It has become a tradition for “Daily Reading / Meditations / Prayers” to be provided as a takhome insert at our weekend services. God willing — this tradition will continue (in some form) this year. We will post these as they become available.
Food Bank — parishioners who wish to donate non-perishable items to the Food Bank are invited to bring their donation(s) to church on Sundays in Advent.
All of this leads us to December 24 — Christmas Eve when there are two services.
At 7:00 pm there will be the more interactive “family” service and at 9:00 pm we will have the more reflective “traditional” service.
Advent 3 - Friday
Friday, December 19th, 2008Friday December 19, 2008
We are greater than John
Scripture Reading: Matthew 11: 7-15
Scripture Verse: Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.” Matthew 11:11
No one ever honoured John more than Jesus did with the above praise, but Jesus’ next words were “…yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Anyone—including us—who even imperfectly grasp what God did in Jesus is “greater than he.”
John preached what we must do. We know what God did.
We have seen much more than John. Jesus went on to not only reveal the true nature and agenda of God but also to bring us the love of God that reclaims us and redeems us sinners. Jesus’ death and resurrection showed that the power of God’s forgiving love for us is the strongest force in the universe…stronger than sin…stronger than death. When we fail in our “little repentances”, we can turn to God, confident in his promise to forgive us when we confess. Sin and death are defeated and God’s Holy Spirit is with us.
But does our complete reliance on God undercut our resolve to “repent” as both John and Jesus preached? Does “forgiveness” give us an excuse—an easy way out? Does all that God did negate what we need to do?
The answer is “No.” If we keep before us the images of Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering and death, we see how the sin we do hurts God’s dream that His Kingdom, begun in Jesus, is done on earth as it is in heaven. That Kingdom is now built through the Spirit acting in and through even the least of us in the Body of Christ, Jesus’ church. We do not want to impede that and so we remain resolved to repent.
Prayer Heavenly Father, though we are offered peace with you through Jesus, help us to never be at peace with our sin. Amen
Advent 3 - Thursday
Thursday, December 18th, 2008Thursday December 18, 2008
Repent
Scripture Reading: Matthew 3:1-11
Scripture Verse: Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist”
We move forward some 30 years. “Repent” proclaims the adult John, to get ready for the coming of Jesus.
Repent means to change, to be different. Change from what? From all that keeps us from being all that God intends us to be, from all that keeps the world from being all it can be.
It can be helpful the think of the “Big Repentance” and “little repentances”. The “Big Repentance” is to turn away from living a life in which God doesn’t matter to us and turning to a life in which we want God and God’s ways to touch our hearts and shape the way we live life. This “turning around” is the repentance to leads to the new life/new creation experienced in baptism when we are born anew as children of God.
The “little repentances” are the daily struggles we have to do the right actions that are in alignment with God’s will as expressed in Jesus. The crowds asked John, “What then should we do?” (Luke 3:10-14) Today John might say things like, “Be honest in your work and in you dealings with people; be generous with what God had given you; respect one another—especially those with whom we have a difference of opinion etc.”
If we take those daily repentances seriously, we discover that our culture pressures us to conform to its values of unrelenting self-interest. Often “little repentances” can be a struggle because issues are rarely black and white…the right way and the wrong way are not always clear…two “goods” or two “evils” often seem to compete or because it is difficult to see the value of a sacrifice we might be called to make. The “little repentances” are our daily struggle.
The Anglo-Saxon root of the word “merry”, as in “Merry Christmas”, means not only mirth-filled but also “mighty”. Robin Hood’s Merry Men were strong and gallant. Jesus came at Christmas not only for happy times but also to help us be “mighty” in our struggles.
Prayer Loving God, we thank you that, in Jesus, you became one of us so that we, with the help of your Holy Spirit, could live more like him. Amen
Advent 3 - Wednesday
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008Wednesday December 17, 2008
The First Christmas Carol
Scripture Reading: Luke 1:67-79
Scripture Verse “Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy.” Luke 1:67
Zechariah had not spoken for nine months, having become mute when he did not want to name his son John. He was given time to ponder and brood over the miraculous things going on.
Now he was holding his son, undoubtedly full of gratitude that Elizabeth and the baby were healthy after childbirth. Add to this Zechariah’s inspired awareness of the events that would happen after the birth of Mary’s baby, promised to her as the “Son of God.”
Out of all this, Zechariah, filled with the Spirit, sang the first Christmas carol.
Of course, Zechariah could not know the details of what lay ahead—how people would stream to his son, or that John would die a horrific death, that Jesus would proclaim God’s Kingdom and embody what God is like and how we humans should be, and perform miracles to reveal the God is with us. And finally that Jesus would die and rise from death to defeat the power of sin and death to separate us from God’s love.
Nevertheless, we see in Zechariah’s song that he has already glimpsed where all this was heading. He blessed God who redeems his people, who raises up a Saviour so we can “serve him without fear.” John is to give “knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of sins.”
Zechariah concludes, “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Such visions in Advent are the first Christmas carol.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, as we try to follow your Son Jesus, our Saviour, Lord and Friend, gulde our feet into the way of peace. Amen
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