The Advent Podcast from Apostles By-the-Sea

Advent Devotion for December 8, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 8

Week 2: The Messiah Is Coming

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12

 

Reflection on this week’s readings:

The second week of Advent continues on the themes of the first week, where we read of Christ’s coming in judgment, but a judgment that is finalized in peace. The themes are depicted in Psalm 72 and Isaiah 11. In addition, Isaiah’s description of the messianic king coming forth from the stump of Jesse is a beautiful picture of how God works to bring new life out of death. Today’s readings also highlight the inclusion of Gentiles into God’s family (Romans 15), and the church’s hopeful expectation of the completion of God’s promises. This week is also marked by a focus on the prophets, especially John the Baptist, who preaches a baptism of repentance (Matthew 3). The call to repentance is a call to forsake our sins and is expressed in the Collect for the Second week of Advent as we pray for the “grace to heed [the prophets’] warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ”

 

Collect for the Second Week of Advent:

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.

Advent Devotion for December 7, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 7

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Jude 17-25

¹⁷ But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸for they said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.’ ¹⁹It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. ²⁰But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on some who are wavering; ²³save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, ²⁵to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.

Reflection:

Today, Jude highlights the second aspect of the first week of Advent, namely our responsibility to live out our faith actively before the world. Followers of Christ are told to “build themselves up” and to “pray in the Holy Spirit” because enacting these practices helps unify Christ’s body, the Church. Notice that even as we look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, we’re to have mercy on those who are wavering in their faith. With that in mind, ask yourself where God is leading you to display mercy on those wavering in their faith. As we wait for the coming King, we should do so in a posture of active, loving ministry. It is our calling and even our joy to participate in it.

Advent Devotion for December 6, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 6

Friday, December 6, 2019

Jude 1-8

¹ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:

² May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

³ Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. ⁴For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵ Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day.

Reflection:

Jude writes about the coming of the Lord and the judgment on the day of his return. The judgment Jude describes sounds horrible, but the Christian should take notice of the first verse of our reading which shows that the letter is written to those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father, and kept safe for Jesus Christ. As Christians, the judgment Jude describes is one we need not fear. We are kept safe for Jesus Christ, and that means we’re kept safe until he returns. And when he does, Jude’s benediction for us of mercy, peace and love will be ours in abundance.

Advent Devotion for December 5, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 5

Thursday, December 5, 2019

2 Peter 3:11-18

¹¹Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? ¹³But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; ¹⁵and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, ¹⁶speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Reflection:

In today’s reading Peter picks up on the theme of the first week of Advent, showing both the Lord’s coming in judgment, as well as our responsibility to live accordingly. As we await Christ’s coming, Peter tells us that we should also be “hastening the coming day of the Lord”. One way that we hasten his coming day is simply to pray for his return. That’s what we’re doing when we pray “Thy Kingdom Come” in the Lord’s Prayer. Another way that we hasten the coming day of the Lord is also found in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The petition helps us understand that God’s Kingdom comes whenever and wherever God’s will is done. This means that we should be obedient to God in Christ. God has granted us the blessing of time and as we wait for the coming of our Lord, we can show our obedience by proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, and by living out his command to love one another as he loved us.

Advent Devotion for December 4, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 4

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

2 Peter 3:1-10

³This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you ²that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles. ³First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts ⁴and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!’ ⁵They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, ⁶through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. ⁷But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the godless. ⁸But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. ⁹The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

Reflection:

Peter’s words in 2 Peter 3:1-10 address the coming of the Lord.  In Peter’s day some people expected that this would happen in their lifetime, and the apparent delay in his coming caused them to be impatient, discouraged, and feeling hopeless.  We too might experience times when we wonder “will he ever come?” or “what is taking so long?”. It may seem to us that God is taking a long time to act, especially in regard to Christ’s return, but Peter reminds us that God’s timing is not like ours. The beauty of God’s timing is that he is patient, not wanting any to perish, and he lovingly gives us time to come to repentance and faith. Christ will hold true to his promise to return, and as we wait, we do well to remember that he has not left us alone. He has given us the presence of the Holy Spirit as our comfort and guide.

Advent Devotion for December 3, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 3

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Matthew 21:12-22

¹² Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³He said to them, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
   but you are making it a den of robbers.’

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, they became angry ¹⁶and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read,
“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
   you have prepared praise for yourself”?’
¹⁷He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

¹⁸ In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once. ²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ ²¹Jesus answered them, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea”, it will be done. ²²Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’

 

Reflection:

My house is not a den of robbers, but I have to admit that it’s not always as much a house of prayer as I would like. Sometimes I don’t pray as I ought to because I let other things take priority, or I get overwhelmed with the multitude of people and things to pray for and I shut down. Sometimes I try to pray with my head more than my heart and I over-complicate my prayers. However, prayer can be beautifully simple, and as Jesus reminds us in today’s reading, it can be as beautifully simple as that which comes from the mouths of infants and nursing babes. Jesus tells us that we should pray with faith - the kind of faith that can move mountains. As we anticipate the coming of our Lord, let our time of waiting be marked by faithful, mountain-moving, prayer.

Advent Devotion for December 2, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 2

Monday, December 2, 2019

 

Matthew 21:1-11

¹When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
        and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷ they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
¹⁰ When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹ The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

 

Reflection:

It might seem strange to have a Palm Sunday reading appear here in Advent, yet there is a definite connection between the two. On Palm Sunday the prophecy of Zechariah is fulfilled as Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey. “Look, your king is coming to you” is surely an Advent theme, and the account of the crowds welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem with shouts of “hosanna!” (which, in Hebrew, means “save us!”) is indeed appropriate for Advent.

Our King is coming! That’s not just old news, but continues to be good news. Christ our Advent king will come again, on the Last Day, to raise us up, to take us home, and to give us eternal life.

Advent Devotion for December 1, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 1

Week 1: Waiting for Christ’s Return

 

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44

 

Reflection on this week’s readings:

The first Sunday of Advent sets the tone for the season by looking forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ. That expectation begins in the Old Testament and Psalm readings which show that the Messiah comes in peace-making judgment. This dual purpose is depicted most beautifully in Isaiah 2 where the Lord comes in judgment, yet also ushers in a time of peace:

“He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”. (Isaiah 2:4)

God is not the only one who is actively working in this time between the first and second advent. The New Testament and Gospel readings call Christians to be actively watching and waiting for Christ’s return, while also evaluating their lives on the basis of Christ’s first coming. We are reminded to “stay awake” (Matt 24:42-44) and also called to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom 13:12). This call is expressed in the collect for the week.

 

Collect for the First Week of Advent:

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.

 

Introduction to the Advent Podcast from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 0