Category: Advent

Advent Benediction : The Blessing of Love

imageBlessed is the name of the Lord,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

He alone is your blessing,

He alone is worthy of receiving your blessing,

He alone blesses you.

 

Blessed is the one who watches and waits,

for the Son, sent of the Father, followed by the Holy Spirit.

He alone is our light.

He alone is our salvation.

Be blessed as you wait the night of His arrival.

 

Blessed is the one who loves,

the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

May God bless you with love,

to give Love as He has,

to be Love as He is,

to know Love as He does.

 

Blessed is the one who blesses.

Blessed is the one who waits.

Blessed is the one who loves.

May you be counted as blessed.

Amen.

 

 

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First Sunday in Advent 2009 ~ Watching

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“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promised I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;

he will do what is just and right the land.

In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.

This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’  (Jer 33:14-16)

On our first Sunday of Advent, we watch and wait in anticipation of the fulfillment of the promise. Our perspective however, is much different than that of the exiles. Imagine being far, far from home with only this promise to hang on to. When the Lord says that the ‘days are coming’, you don’t know if it will be tomorrow, four weeks, or forty years. You only know that He has been completely faithful to you and your people since you fell under His protective gaze.

Our modern perspective is much different. We know how the promise has been kept and we live in the danger of taking that for granted. Our anticipation is muddied, our vision of eternity filtered through a thick San Fernando haze. The Advent season can become just another tradition in which we ‘remember’ historical acts but fail to apply it to our lives. We can restore the joy and the quickening that comes with anticipation. We can restore the memory and the life of faith that comes with a Kingdom that has come, but not yet.

Let us lift ourselves out of the busyness and the stresses that the culture has inflicted on this season and aim our sight into eternity. We can rediscover our purpose and anticipate its completion. We can separate ourselves from the worry and strife of daily life and look forward into a new heavens and new earth. The Messiah promise has been kept. The promise of new life is yet to come. Celebrate both.

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An Advent Benediction of Anticipation

image May you be blessed with an eternal perspective.

To look in anticipation for the first glimmers of hope off on the horizon.

 

May God the Father be your foundation.

May you be assured that his promises are sure and His head is steady,

know that the rays are sourced in Him.

 

May the Lord Jesus be your promise.

May His life be your life, His sacrifice your sacrifice,

His love your love.

 

May the Holy Spirit be your guide.

May He quicken your heart and sharpen your eyes to know your way,

May He point your day after day to the coming light.

 

Look to the horizon and look at your feet.

God’s blessing is here now and yet still to come.

 

Amen.

 

Image by Chris Gin

Fourth Sunday in Advent – Micah and Mary

image In logical ordering of the world God created, the darkness must precede the light. We must endure the night to know the sunrise and warmth of a new day. This ordering extends to the extension of God’s mercy; our repentance leads to the light of the Lord’s mercy. Reading the words of the prophet Micah paints a vivid picture of this contrast. The Lord rebukes his children and follows it with the promises of mercy to be received by those who turn away from their sin. The greatest promise is a featured part of the Advent tradition,

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. (v 5:2)

Mary too knew the sweet longing of anticipation. Carrying the precious gift she bore closer and closer to His birth, Mary was overwhelmed at the change that was about to take place in the world. She was perhaps at a point similar to those moments just before the crown of the sun breaks the horizon, when the purples mix with the deep blue and black of the night sky and the sliver of light pushes the sphere of darkness to the west; though many weeks would still pass the day of the birth of the Lord was nearer than farther! Her heart sang,

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is His name. (Lk vv 1:46b-49)

The day is near for us as well, rejoice for Immanuel!

Advent Benediction ~ The Song of Mary

image Rejoice in the presence of the Lord, may His face shine upon you.

May you walk in anticipation of the promise kept,

and may you fall to your knees in humility and repentance.

 

May you join with your sister Mary and your soul glorify the Lord, your savior.

I pray that you will be known as people of mercy as the Lord works through you

and that you will give to others the same love that He has given to you.

 

May you remember to be merciful, humble, and faithful,

even when you face uncertainty as Mary did.

May you trust in Him as His ways are perfect.

Amen

Third Sunday in Advent with Micah – Restoration

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Israel longed for the promise of being made whole again after their internal corruption had ripped them asunder. Micah brought this promise to them but also reminded them that they must remain in the crucible a bit longer in order to reach the necessary purity.

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.

I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. (v 2:12)

No matter what our personal situation may reflect now, the anticipation of the birth of Jesus kindles hope within us of a personal restoration. His gift of the Holy Spirit can gather our fractured souls together and restore us to what God had intended for us to be. We won’t be perfect, not in this lifetime but when we are all gathered home. . . that is a gift worth receiving.

Our thoughts in this season must move beyond this personal gift and extend it to others. When we become a part of a single body we move together as the representative of the Savior on earth. We become this face of restoration as we bind up the broken and invite them into the sheepfold to enjoy the love of their Restorer.

Second Sunday in Advent with Micah – Longing for Justice

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The Prophet Micah spoke a message that is ultimately about hope. Though difficult times must come upon God’s people, in the end, the just nature of God will overcome all and His people and His world will be restored to their proper relationship. The advent season can be a joyous, hopeful season but for some people, it can also serve to magnify their distress and hopelessness. There are numerous reasons that people feel this way but one cause that the Bible teaches us to address with His blessing is injustice. We can be the hope bringers in situations of injustice. God’s grace can be transported to these situations and they can be transformed…if we are willing. One of my favorite passages regarding worship describes in the voice of God himself the direct relationship between justice, mercy, and adoration.

He has showed you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (vv 6:8)

In this season of longing and anticipation, we can turn to one of Micah’s passages of hope as a prayer of our own. We can trust that God will restore justice in His time. Until that day, we can carry His message on our own.

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?

You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (vv 7:18-19)

An Advent Benediction of Trust

May the Lord put test to your faith.image

May He challenge your trust, may you be troubled,

In the same way that His servant Mary was challenged.

 

Whether it be in the form of an angelic light

or the face of a stranger in need,

Pray for the Lord to challenge your faith.

 

May you rise to the purpose he has vested in you;

May your answer to his call be ‘May it be to me as you have said.’

May your heart know the trust of not being afraid,

and your confidence rooted in the knowledge that nothing is impossible with God.

 

Amen

from the Gospel of St. Luke 1:26 – 38

First Sunday in Advent with Micah

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The season of anticipation is upon us beginning today. The liturgical year begins anew with the first week in Advent. The break with the old year and everything that may have accumulated during the period is marked with a return to looking forward with a positive sense. Christians look from within the kingdom to the new heavens and new earth to be ushered in by the Lord. For now, we prayerfully look to the record of His coming and to those who pointed the way.

Isaiah often takes center stage in the readings but this year I’d like to turn to his contemporary, Micah. The prophet compresses the cycles of travail and hope and points the way to the coming King.

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains;

it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.

2 Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Mic 4:1-2)

Living in the kingdom after the Messiah has come gives our anticipation a similar focal point. The Spirit guides our prayers in the now but not yet kingdom of God which we inhabit and serve. We too look forward to a peace that can only be realized as the worship of God floods the world and replaces our brokenness with wholeness.