Prepare the Way of Our Salvation: That We May Greet Him With Joy

Loving the Dreadful Day of Judgement 

A reading from Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, by Mthr. Fleming Rutledge

The wrath of God and the love of God are two faces of the same thing. The world will be purged of its iniquity in the consuming fire of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the Advent theme. He will come again to set all things right. In the meantime, we take up the weapons of his warfare: "Since we belong to the day, let us...put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (1 Thess. 5:8). 

Anything we can do--anything at all, however small or large--any deed of kindness or generosity or courage that eases the load of someone else or brings truth and justice to light--is a sign of the advent of the One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8). 

Reflection

By Mrs. Barbara White

Good Episcopalians know that Advent is a season of preparation. But we sometimes get so excited about preparing for the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas that we miss the primary theme of Advent. For the church, Advent is primarily about preparing ourselves for Christ’s return as King and Judge in the last day. This year, when so many of our Christmas plans are disrupted due to COVID-19, we can lean into the promise of Christ’s return. As Fleming Rutledge points out, Christ is coming to pass judgement on the evil that stalks through our world. This is very good news.

As Christians we believe that our King will return to set the world right. A world without plague, sickness, death, war, and evil. A world ruled by a righteous King. But we do not wait passively. The best way to prepare for the coming of our Lord is to live in trust that He will keep His word. Because we know that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again” we can live in generosity, joy, and faith and love, trusting that His word is true.

Connection

Take a picture!

Is there a "deed of kindness or generosity or courage that eases the load of someone else or brings truth and justice to light" that you can do this week? Find something you can do for someone in your home or community and offer it to God in the hope of Christ's return.

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Prepare the Way of Our Salvation: Give us Grace to heed their warnings

Who Are Those Wailing People?

A reading from Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, by Mthr. Fleming Rutledge

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Luke 3:7) 

Something has happened. John’s preaching has set it in motion. With the announcement of John, the world begins to turn on hits hinges. The final reckoning is going to take place. The Judge of all the universe steps on the scene. With every bit of earnestness I can muster, I ask you to imagine this picture and to think of the secrets of your heart. Not someone else’s secrets, but your own—your secrets that you will bring before the throne of God. The Judge confronts us. 

But it is not as we feared. The face of the Judge is marked with infinite compassion and infinite suffering. His hands and feet are torn by spikes driven in with violent blows. His brow is pierced by the crown of thorns, and his expression bears the tokens of utmost humiliation. The judgement has already happened. It has taken place in his own body. The Son of God has bourn it all himself. The Judge who is to come has given himself to be judged in our place, “to save us all from Satans power when we were gone astray.” 

Reflection

By Mrs. Barbara White

Prophets tell us things we don't want to hear. In this passage, Mthr. Rutledge describes a warning of the prophet John the Baptist. His warning is something that modern Christians like to forget: Christ will return as our judge.

This makes us very uncomfortable. We know that God’s judgement will be just, that “with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:4), but that doesn’t mean that we are off the hook. We have harmed the poor and meek. We have done (and left undone) things that deserve judgment. We have hurt those closest to us. We have put ourselves above God’s will for His people and His world. We have Crucified the Son of God. 

And this, as Mthr. Rutledge tells us, is the wonderful mystery of the Cross: the one who is returning to be our judge has already received the death sentence that was due to us. The one who will judge us knows the secrets of our hearts, because those dark secrets left their mark on His body. And so on that day when Christ returns I think we will fall down before the throne of the Judge, but out of thanksgiving, not fear. Who could bear to stand under the loving gaze of one who was willing to bear what Christ bore? 

Connection

Take a picture!

Take a picture of your home Advent wreath and send it to news@saintlukesauburn.org! If you haven't found the time to observe Advent at home, there's still two weeks of Advent left! Come by the church office and pick up materials this week.

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Give us Grace to Put on the Armor of Light

The Hope of Heaven

A reading from Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, by Mthr. Fleming Rutledge

You and I cannot make heaven break in. Unassisted human nature cannot turn the hearts of the children to their parents and the hearts of the parents to the children. Only God can do this. This is a fundamental truth of the Advent message. Unassisted human nature is under the sign of the wrath of God. But light is breaking, brothers and sisters, the dawn is coming. As Malachi foresaw and Charles Wesley adapted in a famous hymn, ‘For you who fear my name the son of righteousness shall rise, with healing in his wings.’ Human nature is unassisted no longer.

However dimly, however imperfectly, heaven is to be mirrored in our lives right now. Now in the time of this mortal life, now in the time of this present darkness…take heart! ‘Look up! Raise your heads! Your redemption is drawing near!’ (Luke 21:28)

Reflection

By Fr. Brian Rebholtz

One of the greatest spiritual challenges Christians face in the United States is what Tim Mackie likes to call, "The Myth of Religious Fulfillment." According to this human-made myth, we all sit at the center of a unique story, and we play the starring role as ourselves! God, we believe, exists primarily to help us complete our story and to bring our story to a satisfying conclusion. This is "The Myth of Religious Fulfillment." When this myth proves false, we get angry. We blame God. We lose our faith. We declare the Church dead and Christianity moribund. After all, if God can't be bothered to ensure the success of our story, why bother with God at all?

Fleming Rutledge reminds us that this "myth" gets the truth precisely backwards. We are not the stars of our own personal story. Rather, there is only one true story and it involves the whole Creation! God, not humankind, is at the center of this story. And every person is called to play a small but essential part as this Divine narrative unfolds. If we can accept this, we will find our true identity and calling in the roles God has created us to play. If we cannot, not matter how successful we may seem in the eyes of others, our "story" will ultimately flop and we will forfeit our true moment of greatness.

Connection

Make time to pray.

The St. Luke's sanctuary is decorated for Advent! Come by this week or next week between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm and make time to pray in our sacred space. When you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you, inspire you and guide you are you seek to be closer to God and to heed His calling upon your life. If you cannot come to the church, set aside an additional time to pray in your home.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Give us Grace to Cast Away the Works of Darkness

Whispers in the Darkness 

A reading from Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Christ, by Mthr. Fleming Rutledge

The Church can’t survive on sentiment and nostalgia. If we try to do that, we will wake up at midnight and discover that our lamps are going out. Sentiment, nostalgia, optimism; these are weak, thin fuels. We need premium oil for our lamps if we are to keep the light of the church burning in the time of trial. Christianity is not for sissies. We need to understand the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism often arises out of the denial of the real facts; hope, however, persists in spite of the clearly recognized facts because it is anchored in something beyond. This time of year is about hope…

Mere optimism cannot survive the brutal facts; but Christian hope is something different…Christian hope builds its foundation on the promise of the living God that the random chaos of the world will be revealed one day to have been led and shaped by the same hand that reached out to heal the sick and make the blind to see, to raise the dead and ‘call into existence the things that do not exist’ (Romans 4:17). In the midst of our fears and sorrows, even in the hurricanes and ice storms, we have this hope. This is what the church whispers in the darkness: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.”

Reflection

By Fr. Brian Rebholtz

Our opening reading from Mthr. Fleming Rutledge proves her skill and courage as a preacher. Her text is Jesus' Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13), in which ten bridesmaids await the coming of the bridegroom. Five of them have brought oil for their lamps; five have neglected to properly prepare. When the bridegroom comes, the wise bridesmaids join in his banquet, but the foolish bridesmaids miss him and are shut out.

It is typical of tepid preachers to abuse this parable by turning it into a kindergarten-level morality tale. The five bridesmaids with oil are chastised for not sharing their oil with the other five, and the congregation is told to be generous and to share what they have. Sadly, this is a weak, sentimental reading that is both contrary to the text and unbefitting of the power of Advent.

Christ's call is a real call. Christ's challenge is a real challenge. And there is a real difference between wisdom and foolishness. Fleming Rutledge rises to to meet this challenge, and she reminds us that we should too.

Connection

Dive into the season.

Plan to come our 10:30 a.m. service this Sunday, or the church office later this week, so you pick up materials and prayers for your home Advent wreath and get your copy of the parish Advent devotional.

If you like, share photos of you family Advent wreath with us on Facebook (or email them to news@saintlukesauburn.org) so that we can share this season with one another. 

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.