December 13, 2024

Advent

Hopeful waiting. Expectancy. Longing. Things are not right within us nor in the world around us, so we wait. We wait for the arrival of King Jesus. The word “advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” During Advent we remember the first coming of Jesus and we long for his second coming. Robert Webber explains Advent as, “a corporate spiritual journey that calls for expectant waiting and readiness for the coming of the Christ. When the Church travels this journey and treats it as a discipline of life and prayer, the joy of Christmas is immeasurably intensified.”

 

- Calling - 

O Lord, open our lips.

And our mouth shall proclaim Your praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!

Our King and Savior now draws near:
O come, let us adore him. Alleluia!

 

- Constitution - 

Read/Listen, Meditate, Pray, and Contemplate on God’s Word, remembering that God is with you and ready to speak to you because he loves you.

Praying the Psalms

Psalm 87

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.

[1] On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

[2] the LORD loves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

[3] Glorious things of you are spoken,

O city of God. Selah

[4] Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;

behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush—

“This one was born there,” they say.

[5] And of Zion it shall be said,

“This one and that one were born in her”;

for the Most High himself will establish her.

[6] The LORD records as he registers the peoples,

“This one was born there.” Selah

[7] Singers and dancers alike say,

“All my springs are in you.”

Psalm 88

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

[1] O LORD, God of my salvation,

I cry out day and night before you.

[2] Let my prayer come before you;

incline your ear to my cry!

[3] For my soul is full of troubles,

and my life draws near to Sheol.

[4] I am counted among those who go down to the pit;

I am a man who has no strength,

[5] like one set loose among the dead,

like the slain that lie in the grave,

like those whom you remember no more,

for they are cut off from your hand.

[6] You have put me in the depths of the pit,

in the regions dark and deep.

[7] Your wrath lies heavy upon me,

and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

[8] You have caused my companions to shun me;

you have made me a horror to them.

I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

[9] my eye grows dim through sorrow.

Every day I call upon you, O LORD;

I spread out my hands to you.

[10] Do you work wonders for the dead?

Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

[11] Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,

or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

[12] Are your wonders known in the darkness,

or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

[13] But I, O LORD, cry to you;

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

[14] O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?

Why do you hide your face from me?

[15] Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,

I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

[16] Your wrath has swept over me;

your dreadful assaults destroy me.

[17] They surround me like a flood all day long;

they close in on me together.

[18] You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;

my companions have become darkness.

Old Testament Reading

2 Chronicles 14

[1] Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. [2] And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. [3] He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim [4] and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. [5] He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. [6] He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace. [7] And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. [8] And Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

[9] Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. [10] And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. [11] And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” [12] So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. [13] Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the LORD and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. [14] And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. [15] And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 15

[1] The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, [2] and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. [3] For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, [4] but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. [5] In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. [6] They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. [7] But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

[8] As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD. [9] And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. [10] They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. [11] They sacrificed to the LORD on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. [12] And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, [13] but that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. [14] They swore an oath to the LORD with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. [15] And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.

[16] Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. [17] But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. [18] And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. [19] And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

New Testament Reading

Revelation 4

[1] After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” [2] At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. [3] And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. [4] Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. [5] From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, [6] and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: [7] the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. [8] And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!”

[9] And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, [10] the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

[11] “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created.”

 

- Communion - 


Pray for yourself, others, our church, our neighbors, and the world.


Pray the Lord’s Prayer & the collect of the week:

Our Father who art in heaven...


Merciful God, you 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 forever. Amen.

 

- Commission - 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Amen. (Romans 15:13)

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and our neighbors.