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 89
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
[1] I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
[2] For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
[3] You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
[4] ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
[5] Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
[6] For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
[7] a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all who are around him?
[8] O LORD God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
with your faithfulness all around you?
[9] You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them.
[10] You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
[11] The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
[12] The north and the south, you have created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
[13] You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
[14] Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
[15] Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
[16] who exult in your name all the day
and in your righteousness are exalted.
[17] For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
[18] For our shield belongs to the LORD,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
[19] Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:
“I have granted help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
[20] I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
[21] so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
[22] The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.
[23] I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
[24] My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
[25] I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
[26] He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
[27] And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
[28] My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
[29] I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
[30] If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,
[31] if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
[32] then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
[33] but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
[34] I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
[35] Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
[36] His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
[37] Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
[38] But now you have cast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your anointed.
[39] You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown in the dust.
[40] You have breached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
[41] All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
[42] You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
[43] You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.
[44] You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.
[45] You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame. Selah
[46] How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
[47] Remember how short my time is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
[48] What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
[49] Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
[50] Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,
[51] with which your enemies mock, O LORD,
with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.
[52] Blessed be the LORD forever!
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 90
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
[1] Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
[2] Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
[3] You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
[4] For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
[5] You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
[6] in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
[7] For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
[8] You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
[9] For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
[10] The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
[11] Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
[12] So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
[13] Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
[14] Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
[15] Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
[16] Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
[17] Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Old Testament Reading
2 Chronicles 16
[1] In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. [2] Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, [3] “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” [4] And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. [5] And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. [6] Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
[7] At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. [8] Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. [9] For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” [10] Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
[11] The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. [12] In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. [13] And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. [14] They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.
New Testament Reading
Revelation 5
[1] Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. [2] And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” [3] And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, [4] and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. [5] And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
[6] And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. [7] And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. [8] And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. [9] And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
[10] and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
[11] Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, [12] saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
[13] And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
[14] And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
- 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.