The word "advent" means coming. Who is coming? God the Lord is. The Antiphon of our Introit for the First Sunday in Advent, Zechariah 9:9, prophesies in anticipation of this, "See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation." The Collect resounds this coming for which we heartily pray on this occasion, "Stir up, we implore You, Your power, O Lord, and come."
Rounding out our Introit Antiphon in answer to our ardent prayer we sing of this King's coming and, by way of Psalm 118:26, our thanks for the same in the Gradual. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. >From the house of the Lord we bless Yyou" (Zech 9:9; Ps 118:26).
And as loyal subjects of this King, faithful members of His kingdom and pious residents of His holy city, we beckon by means of the appointed verse. "Alleluia. Alleluia. Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in. Alleluia" (Ps 24:9).
In the Psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 50:1-15, in preparation for His coming, from His majestic Judge's seat, the Lord High Magistrate subpoenas the whole earth to appear before Him in His royal court. "The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth" (Ps 50:1-2).
Here comes the Judge! And He comes to sit in judgment. And He doesn't need a whole earth catalog to convict the whole earth and catalog the offenses of His subjects. For no one, basking in his sin, is prepared for His coming. Therefore His herald, chief officer of His high court, heralds His Majesty's coming. "Our God comes; He does not keep silence". Coming in judgment, come what may, He comes with wrath. "Before Him is a devouring fire, around Him a mighty tempest" (v 3).
He doesn't just subpoena earth and its earthlings, however. He summons His celestial hosts to appear as material witnesses. "He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that He may judge His people" (v 4). Because of His stiff necked people's hardheartedness God dictated to Moses His Book of the Law to be placed beside the ark of the covenant to serve as a witness against them when they departed from Him and His ways.
And depart from them they did. They bolted like the renegade sheep they were. And because God knew they would, knowing His reprobate flock as He did, He gave Moses this song, which is a facsimile of our Psalm. And He said, "Teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the people of Israel.
"For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise Me and break My covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness.
"(For it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring)", fetching tune that it is and catchy lyrics, albeit a grand jury indictment! "For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give" (Dt 31:19-21). Though they go back on their word and break their covenant with God, God is true and faithful and righteous and loving.
He will not go back on His Word. Nor will He break His promises. In attestation of God's stout rebuke, Moses issued this stern command and leveled this word of strong warning—and leveled them! "Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you.
"And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger through the work of your hands" (vv 28-29). These are the words of the woeful song Moses taught Israel on the threshold of entering the Promised Land and that He teaches us on the verge of our Lord's coming, the First Sunday in Advent. They are a companion of the words of our Psalm.
"Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain on the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Ascribe greatness to our God!" (Dt 32:1-3).
Take this to heart. The deaf and mute earth hears and heeds God's Word and, proving fruitful, glorifies Him. And why not? Why shouldn't deaf ears be unstopped and mute tongues unloosened at God's unstoppable, all-loosing Word? "The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He" (v 4).
Not so His deaf, mute people. Utterly unreceptive, they neither hear and heed His Word nor sing His praises. In truth, they reject Him. "They have dealt corruptly with Him; they are no longer His children because they are blemished". Like the tattoos and body piercings they relish and the filth they revel in, they have disfigured themselves in the eyes of God, and not merely in the vain augmentation and vile allurement of their more noticeable body parts.
"They are a crooked and twisted generation" (v 5). Writes an early Church Father, Gregory of Nazianzus, of the debacle, "How shall we bear His convictions? Or what reply shall we make, when He reproaches us not only with the multitude of the benefits for which we have continued ungrateful but also with His chastisements, and reckons up the remedies with which we have refused to be healed? Calling us His children indeed, but unworthy children, and His sons, but strange sons who have stumbled" (NPNF2 7:250).
"Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not He your Father, who created you, who made you and established you?" (Dt 32:5-6). Notwithstanding the disobedience of the impious many, God declares in regard to the pious few—but not too few for Him to number aright—for they are the true remnant, "Gather to me My faithful ones, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice" (Ps 50:5).
Not like the heifer, the female goat, the ram, the turtledove and the pigeon which Abram cut in half and offered to God when God made His covenant with him and his offspring after him; not like the ram God provided Abraham as a substitute sacrifice for his son when He spared Isaac on the mountain of sacrifice in confirming His covenant; nor like the Passover lambs the Israelites were to sacrifice, whose blood they were to apply to their doors, "X" marks the spot, so that when the angel of death passed over, meting out God's death sentence, he would pass them by with respect to God's punishment and instead visit God's favor upon them, lambs whose flesh they were to eat in fellowship with God as a foretaste of the communion meal to come.
No, through none of these sacrifices has God established and confirmed His covenant with us. But solely through the single substitutionary all-atoning Sacrifice of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, only through the new covenant and new and eternal last will and testament in His blood. Him He did not spare as, for His sake, He has spared us, but offered Him up for us all, in our stead, the single Sacrifice all others pointed toward and in Whom they are fulfilled, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
As the Jews were to purge out all leaven in preparation for this Passover sacrifice, so the Holy Spirit purges out the leaven of sin and teaches us to purge out the evil leaven of the old year now past on this First Sunday in Advent in preparation for our Paschal Lamb. "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" St. Paul reminds us.
"Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival", every Lord's Day, every celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar, every administration and reception of the Lord's Supper, every Holy Communion, "not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice" and mayhem, "but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1Cor 5:6b-8).
It is He in whom we revel and whose continuous coming to us through His Word and Sacraments and glorious second and final coming at the end of time to consummate His kingdom in us and us in it that we gratefully anticipate and eagerly await. It is He whose first coming in lowliness as the Bethlehem Babe and today no less humbly as the Messiah triumphantly coming into His sacred city to offer Himself up as that solitary vicarious and all-atoning Sacrifice for the sins of the world, we celebrate on the First Sunday in Advent.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you righteous and having salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden", bearing the burden of your sin and its punishment, death, and its curse, damnation and hell, and, in His triumph over sin, death and the devil, bearing to you God's gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation gift-wrapped in His Son, our Savior, just in time for Advent and Christmas!
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. Alleluia. Alleluia. Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up", indeed, "you everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in. Alleluia." The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, the Almighty Lord has stirred up His power and come to us. By His invincible protection we are rescued from the threatening perils of our many sins and saved by His mighty deliverance.
This being so, the hour is late. Our Lord's second and final advent is nigh. "The hour has come for you to wake from sleep", the Apostle Paul reminds us in our Epistle lesson for this occasion. Wake, awake, for night is flying! Don't fly in the face of that wake up call. Don't hit the snooze button and roll over and go back to sleep and so sleep on and on and perish in your slumber. Shake off vile sloth and arise!
Our Lord indicates just how late the hour is and how imminent is His last coming in our Gospel lesson in His teaching on the last things and the end times, the very things we're occupied with and the times we're living through and have been ever since Christ's first advent. And, oh, how near the end is! Peel back your ears and listen, keep your eyes peeled too and watch. Be vigilant, my fellow vigilantes, before He peels back the veneer and exposes the sordid underbelly and the inner rottenness.
"For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Mt 24:37-39).
And just as righteous Noah warned the sinful people of his day by his preaching of repentance and the Lord worked through this means but only a faithful few believed and were converted and saved, whereas the many ignored Noah and stubbornly rejected God and His grace and perished, so with the coming of the Son of Man, the righteous One, and His warning and preaching of repentance.
Only the faithful remnant hear and heed and believe, and are converted and saved. The stiff necked and hardhearted many ignore the warning and stubbornly reject Christ and His gifts and perish. But the end is coming—and fast! "Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left" (vv 40-41).
Supply today's vocational and avocational variants as you will. The teaching is the same. It's universal and unequivocal and absolute. It never changes. Depend on it. Some few will be taken; the many will be left. For many are called but few are chosen. For few heed the call. Most miss the boat. So be ready, be prepared. Hear and heed and believe. Be converted and repent and be saved. Be safe and not sorry. Be taken with the Son of Man, altogether taken, and you won't be taken unfair advantage of by His chief rival and yours the devil. Watch. Stay awake. Keep vigil.
"For you do not know what day your Lord is coming." Do you even know what day or hour it is? It's late! "But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into" (vv 42-43).
That was the case with us here at Peace a few years ago. We didn't know the hour. And we were broken into. That's the trouble. We do not know the hour now either, only that it is late. And we fall asleep all too readily and sleep through the break in, sleeping on and on. But alas! We have a Sentry who is ever watchful, ever vigilant, ever alert, who never slumbers or sleeps. He is our intrusion alarm. So don't be alarmed. Intruders beware!
Be taken with Him our Night Watchman, our Day Laborer too. And you won't be taken in. Stand up for Him. Stand in Him and with Him and you won't be stood up. You'll stand your ground to the end. The hour is come. His coming is at hand. "For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is here.
"So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ".
For in Him we have ample provision who has provided so richly for us. "And make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Rom 13:11b-14). To this end we pray, "Stir up, we implore You, Your power, O Lord, and come!" Amen.
- Pastor Erickson
How to Hear, Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest God's Word
(What follows is taken from The Lutheran Study Bible, pages xxvi-xxx)
As our reflection on Ex 24 has shown, helpful principles of interpretation flow from the Law and Gospel teachings of Scripture.
The focus of the books of Scripture on Christ and His work and their agreement with one another do not destroy the particular experiences, struggles, and concerns of the biblical writers. Although some passages speak about humanity in general, the prophets and apostles most often wrote for a particular group of people at a particular moment in history. As a result, to fully understand Scripture and to treasure the breadth of the ways it proclaims the Law and the Gospel of Jesus, each passage must be considered in its historical context.
No book or passage should have an alien meaning forced on it. For example, when reading that Moses "took the blood [of the sacrifices]and threw it on the people" (Ex 24:8), a reader should not conclude that God wants us to sacrifice animals today so that we, too, can pour blood on one another. Nor should one shy away from the historical and grammatical meaning of Moses' words because they seem offensive to one's ideas about cleanliness or animal rights. A reader should not spiritualize the words, as though Moses only showed the blood to the people and then poured it on the altar on their behalf.
Instead, an interpreter should diligently compare the text with other passages of Scripture, beginning with the book of Scripture the text appears in or books by the same writer (in this case, Moses). For example, in Ex 29, blood is applied to the priests as a means of consecration (vv 19-20; cf Lv 8:22-30). The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Moses mingled the blood with water before sprinkling it on the people (9:19). In view of these passages, Ex 24:8 grows clearer. The sacrificial blood was diluted with water, which was sprinkled on the people for their consecration.
Because the people were unclean (sinful, as pointed out by the Law), they needed atonement for their sins and consecration through the sacrifices (blessings of God's mercies, which pointed forward to the sacrificial death of Jesus—the Gospel). In this way, the particular historic message of the passage is respected and more fully understood in view of God's work of salvation.
At times, even with careful study, a passage of Scripture will remain unclear. In such cases, readers should not fall into endless speculation or try to resolve every mystery. Instead, they should let the clearest passages of Scripture guide their understanding of biblical doctrine.
Since Holy Scripture is a book of salvation, we can understand it only through faith (1Co 2:12-16). Reason certainly has its place in reading Scripture (e.g., considering the grammar and history). But reason alone is never enough, for reason cannot grasp the spiritual truths of God's Word (cf Jn 3:1-8).
Likewise, our own reason, experiences, interests, and opinions are distorted by the effects of sin, which cloud and confuse us about the meaning and use of God's Word (Jn 3:9-10). This is one reason why people will read the same passage but arrive at vastly different interpretations. The Holy Spirit must open the Scripture for us through faith (Jn 3:31-36). [To be continued. . .]
Passages from the Book of Isaiah constitute the appointed Old Testament lessons for the First through the Third Sundays in Advent and, except for the Fourth Sunday, every service after that through the Baptism of Our Lord, the First Sunday after the Epiphany. Since we recently introduced this Scripture we'll augment our introduction by considering various study features provided us in The Lutheran Study Bible.
During the turmoil following World War II, Bedouin shepherds of the Ta?amireh tribe stepped from a cave near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. They carried a number of ancient artifacts found in the cave. In a large jar was a leather scroll over 24 feet long. It was made from 17 sheepskins sewn together with linen thread. The shepherds journeyed to Bethlehem, where they sold their discovery to a cobbler called Kando. They did not realize that they had made the first find of the greatest archaeological discovery of the twentieth century: the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The great scroll discovered by the shepherds is known today as 1QIsaa, meaning "Qumran cave 1, Isaiah scroll a." It is an almost complete copy of the Book of Isaiah, arranged in 54 columns, dating from the second century before Christ. Until this discovery, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of Isaiah were copies made in Russia (the Masoretic texts) and dating to c AD 1000.
As scholars began to compare the Qumran copy of Isaiah with the later copies, they expected to find significant differences between them. After all, the manuscripts were scribed more than 11 centuries apart. The scholars had been taught by critics of the Bible that ancient books developed over long periods of time through the efforts of many authors. They assumed that centuries of copying would have added considerable changes. Instead, the scholars discovered that the Isaiah scroll nearly matched the later Masoretic texts. The most numerous changes were variations in spelling, done to help the second-century BC readers correctly pronounce the words. For thousands of years, scribes had faithfully copied Isaiah's text, preserving for us the words of the prophet!
As you unfold the prophecies of Isaiah, bear in mind these surprising discoveries by Bedouins and scholars. Read Isaiah as something more than the words of a great Hebrew poet. Hear, through Isaiah, the voice of God, who called the prophet to write and who guided him to speak an everlasting message of repentance, faith, and faithfulness. Most important, rejoice in Isaiah's prophecies about the One whom other shepherds discovered at Bethlehem: Immanuel (Is 7:14).
God, the Holy One of Israel, is absolutely perfect, pure, and sinless. His absolute righteousness cannot tolerate the slightest error. He demands that we be perfect, as He is perfect (Mt 5:48; cf Lv 11:44). Yet, we are sinful, error-prone, and rebellious against our Maker. Because our sin separates us from His presence, our heavenly Father sent His Holy One—Jesus—to sanctify us. His blood purifies us so that we might live with Him and serve as His holy people.
In the last year of King Uzziah's life, Isaiah had a vision of God sitting upon His throne in the heavenly temple. He saw the seraphim, the six-winged angels, flying above the throne. They shouted to each other: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" (Is 6:3). Isaiah stood in the presence of the Thrice Holy: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Like Moses and Gideon (Ex 33:20; Jgs 6:20-25), Isaiah was frightened because he knew that no one could see God and live. In the presence of the Holy One of Israel, Isaiah was instantly aware of how sinful he was. He was impure in a place that required perfect purity. Consider, for example, how embarrassing it is to spill something on your shirt at a formal gathering. How much greater shame Isaiah must have felt! In His mercy, God sent one of the seraphim to take a coal from the altar of sacrifice and touch it to Isaiah's lips. This purged the prophet of his sins. Isaiah was made fit to bear God's Word to His people. When God asked, "Whom shall I send?" Isaiah replied, "Here am I! Send me" (Is 6:8).
This heavenly vision made a deep impression on Isaiah. One of his favorite titles for God became "the Holy One of Israel." The prophet uses this name for Yahweh 24 times. (The name appears only six other times in God's Word.) Isaiah warned the people who mocked the Holy One of Israel while believing that God would not bring judgment on them (5:18-19). He condemned them for trying to silence the Lord's messengers (30:9-11). If God's people would repent and trust in Him, they would be saved. Instead, they chose to depend on their foreign resources (30:16; 31:1). In His anger, God called the foreign nations to come and destroy His nation (5:26).
But God's vengeance is not satisfied with the humbling of His people. In his pride, the king of Assyria had blasphemed and insulted the Holy One of Israel. God promised to send sickness to kill Assyria's soldiers and fire to destroy their forests (10:16-17). Although this army would destroy Judah, God would preserve some of His people. They would look to Him for salvation (17:7). They would rejoice that the Holy One of Israel was with them (29:19).
God kept these promises during the reign of faithful King Hezekiah. The Assyrian army captured all of Judah except for Jerusalem. The angel of the Lord struck down 185,000 of His people's enemies. King Sennacherib of Assyria withdrew the remaining forces to his capital, where his own sons assassinated him. During the remaining years of Hezekiah's reign, Judah lived in peace. Yet Isaiah knew the people of Judah would soon disobey the Holy One of Israel again. He warned Hezekiah that the day would come when Babylon would carry Judah into exile (chs 38-39).
Although the Holy One of Israel kept His promise to free a remnant of His people, He had even greater plans in store—for Jew and Gentile alike. He would be their Helper, Redeemer, and Savior (41:14; 43:3, 14; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5). He sent His Holy One, Jesus, to life a perfect, sinless, and holy life for us. God's sinless Son became the sacrifice to pay the price of our sins and gain our salvation. Now when God sees us, He sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We are now holy in His sight (Col 1:22).
Before God made the world, He chose us in Christ Jesus to be His children (Eph 1:4). Just as Isaiah was cleansed when the coal from the altar touched his lips, so our Father cleansed us in the waters of our Baptism by joining us to Christ in His death and resurrection (Rm 6:1-14). In Christ, He made us new creations who love Him, trust in Him, and have His power to live holy lives. We are now His saints, a word that means "holy ones."
(To be continued. . .)
With the arrival of the First Sunday in Advent, given the passing of one Church Year and the beginning of the next, we are ready to continue our pilgrimage of faith and step lively into the new Church Year. In light of God's mercies as laid out in His Gospel which are new every morning and forever, we worship the Lord our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by means of the tried and true pattern, yes, the familiar rhythm of the Divine Service:
Holy Communion on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays; the Order of Morning Service on the 2nd Sunday and Matins on the 4th Sunday, and the Orders of Morning and Evening Prayer (Matins and Vespers) during the week and their corresponding Ordinaries and Propers intended to prepare us for the Holy of holies, the Lord's Day in the house of the Lord together with His holy people.
And whatever the occasion, regardless of the day, join us at Peace each Sunday at 10:00 AM for an hour of true peace in Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace. Make it two hours well spent. Come at 8:45 AM and join us for adult Bible study and Sunday School!
Join us for the adult Bible study hour on Sunday mornings at 8:45 AM in the Parish Hall where the Gospel According to St. Mark, the Gospel appointed for this Church Year, will for the most part afford us our subject matter.
But for three Sundays in Advent—the Second (December 4th), the Third (December 11th) and the Fourth (December 18th)—and Christmas Day, which this year falls on the fourth and final Sunday in December, our Sunday Bible study will be connected with the midweek Advent and Christmas series under the overarching theme, Savior of the Nations. The individual, weekly Bible Study topics and their introductions will be as follows:
Trusting the Lord to Preserve the Throne of David (Isaiah 7:1-14 - December 4th)
The wonderful promise of Isaiah 7:14, that a virgin would give birth to a Son and she would call Him Immanuel, came about in a particular set of circumstances. In c 734 BC, Israel, the Northern Kingdom (also called Ephraim), and Syria (also called Aram) formed a military alliance to defend themselves against the growing power of Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria. The two kings, Rezin and Pekah, put tremendous pressure on Ahaz, king of Judah, to join their alliance. God promises to preserve a remnant, and through Immanuel the Lord will preserve the throne of David.
The Lord Will Install His King, Forever (Isaiah 9:1-7 - December 11th)
This passage is the culmination of what was begun in Isaiah 7:1 with the prophecy of the birth of Immanuel. In His restoration of Israel, the Lord provides a King like no other.
The Suffering and Glory of God's Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12 - December 18th)
In earlier chapters, Isaiah warned Israel that their idolatry would bring exile and captivity in Babylon, and he pronounced woe even on those nations the Lord was using to chastise Israel. But since chapter 40, Isaiah has been preaching the comfort of God's mercy even in the midst of Israel's unfaithfulness. Isaiah proclaims the comfort and help of Israel through the Lord's "Servant"—a figure who is most obviously the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us (St. John 1:1-14 - December 25th)
Some have likened the beginning of St. John's Gospel to the opening movement in a symphony when all the musical themes that will be developed are introduced to the listeners. John's Gospel has profound themes that he will explore fully, and chief among them are the contrasts between light and darkness, life and death, and what it means for God to dwell in the midst of His people. Most clearly, John sets forth the theme for his Gospel, that in the signs of Jesus of Nazareth, all people would come to see the perfect love of a heavenly Father.
A diners club meets the second Saturday evening of each month, by reservation, at a local eatery to savor new culinary delights and fondly revisit old ones.
The Men of Peace meet at 7:30 AM on the third Saturday of each month (December 17th) in the Parish Hall for breakfast and a Bible study we've just begun, Baptism, one of the two foundational Sacraments of the Christian faith and Church, the Rite of Incorporation with Christ and initiation into membership in His body, the Church, of which He is our exalted Head—amidst animated, brotherly conversation.
In their Student Introduction the authors of the study write, "The reformer Dr. Martin Luther regarded Baptism as the identifying mark of a Christian. In fact, for Luther, Baptism made a Christian. Luther thought Baptism so central to the Christian faith that he encouraged fellow Christians to repeat the words of their Baptism each day."
All men—and your friends—are welcome!
The Women's Guild meets the fourth Thursday of the month (except for November, December and July when they do not meet) at ten o'clock in the morning in the Parish Hall for a devotion on women of the Bible, a brief business meeting and fellowship and refreshments. All women of Peace—and their guests—are welcome!
? We're grateful to Jim Boedeker, our patient leader, and the faithful choir members who embellish the Divine Service during the festival half of the Church Year and on other occasions. (The Choir is idle during the summer and fall months.)
We rehearse after worship on Sundays, during the festival cycle (Advent through Christmas and Lent through Easter). We encourage you to add your talent by joining in this special way in which we worship God. "Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing" Psalm 100:2 ?
LUTHERAN MISSION ALLIANCE, of which our congregation is a member, now helps to support two missions: Our Redeemer ($500 per month grant), Palacios, TX; and Peace ($300 per month), Texarkana, TX. (Such have been our Lord's blessings on Living Savior, Montgomery, TX, that the congregation, in thanking LMA, has informed the Alliance that it may direct its support to another effort!)
These missions are traditional, liturgical and truly Lutheran. They emphasize the Bible in preaching; hymns from the hymnal; thorough Catechism instruction for new members and close(d) communion. Like your grandfather's church, but with air conditioning.
This is a step of faith for this new mission organization, so your support is needed. Pray and give for these missions. Make your contributions out to: Lutheran Mission Alliance. If you wish to give a gift to either of these missions, simply write "Our Redeemer" or "Peace" congregation in the memo line of the check. If you simply want to give a gift for the work of the Lutheran Mission Alliance, then write "Lutheran Mission Alliance" on the memo line.
And speaking of the work the LMA does and the contribution this Evangelical Lutheran mission alliance makes, check out their web page at www.l-m-a.org.
WORSHIP SCHEDULE
Sundays at 10:00 AM
DECEMBER 4 — Second Sunday in Advent
10:00 AM Order of The Holy Communion
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-14; St. Mark 1:1-8
DECEMBER 11 — Third Sunday in Advent
10:00 AM Order of Morning Service
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; St. John 1:6-8, 19-28
DECEMBER 18 — Fourth Sunday in Advent
10:00 AM Carol Service for the Nativity of Our Lord (no communion)
Scripture Readings: 2 Samuel 7:(1-7)8-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27; St. Luke 1:26-38
DECEMBER 25 — Christmas Day
10:00 AM Order of Matins
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 62:10-12; Titus 3:4-7; St. Luke 2:1-20
Services and Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season
The flesh and blood of the God-Man Jesus brings our salvation. God has become one of us. The mystery of the incarnation causes all of us to ponder anew the sacrificial love of God. To be fully one of us, to share with us in all things, to know no sin, and yet to become sin for us, that is the stuff that causes all creation to fall at His feet and worship. There is no greater love of God than the work of Jesus Christ in rescuing fallen creation. Here is the pure Gospel. These Advent and Christmas resources are provided so that God's people can discover again the rich glories of the Word becoming flesh among us. The beloved Advent-Christmas hymn, Savior of the Nations, Come, forms the foundation for the preaching, Bible study, and worship settings of the Advent-Christmas schedule for this year, providing a unified theme for Advent midweek services and Sunday Bible study and for Christmas Eve.
(Light suppers precede the four Advent services for your convenience at 6:00)