Greetings people of God! This is a wonderful time of year
as we anticipate the celebration of our Lord's birth. This
Sunday we will light three candles on our Advent Wreath,
including the "pink" candle which represents the fact that our
Advent season shifts from being a Lent like theme of
repentance to one of anticipation and joy. In addition, we
are thrilled to be able to welcome our Bishop, Dr. Phyllis
Milton to be our preacher this Sunday. You will definitely
want to meet her as she makes her first visit to our
parish. She will be speaking on the joy of this season.
Christ’s presence in our midst in the wonder of the holy
supper is cause for singing. The nearness of the God in
prayer, in every circumstance, is cause for rejoicing. The
coming of one “more powerful” than John, even with a
winnowing fork in hand, is good news—and cause for
exultation—for us who are being saved. Great joy is the tone
for the third Sunday of Advent. May God bring this joy into
your hearts!
Advent greetings in the name of the One who is to
come! This week we are blessed to welcome Rev. John
Wertz to lead our worship! John is Assistant to the Bishop
for our Virginia Synod and was our mission director while we
were forming our congregation. It is a blessing and honor to
have him with us this week!
Our scripture lessons show that forerunners and
messengers advance the advent of our God. While John the
baptizer’s voice in the wilderness may be the principal focus
of the day, Malachi’s prophecy could as easily herald the
coming Christ as forerunner of the Lord of hosts. Finally, all
the baptized are called to participate in the sharing of the
gospel. In so doing we prepare the way for the coming of
Jesus and assist all people in capturing a vision of the
“salvation of God.”
Remember that Thursday we will share in our Advent
Bible Study as we focus on the Shepherds' story of
Christmas! Blessings to everybody!
This Sunday we will celebrate two festivals! In the morning
service we will observe Christ the King Sunday. It is a time to
remember the promise of Jesus coming again, this time to establish
the Kingdom of God. Throughout time, folks have interpreted the
promise of "end times" in a number of different ways, most of
which hold to the idea that we are currently on the very cusp of
these end times. End times theories go all the way back to the first
Christians who believed that they would see the second coming of
Christ in their lifetimes. There is one common thread in all of
these theories throughout the ages - namely, they have all been
wrong!
Even after Israel had experienced the vagaries of kings, the
people still longed for a true king to set things right. He would
have the king’s title of Anointed One (Messiah); he would be the
“one like a human being” (Son of Man) given dominion in
Daniel’s vision. Jesus is given these titles, even though he is
nothing like an earthly king. His authority comes from the truth to
which he bears witness, and those who recognize the truth
voluntarily listen to him. We look forward to the day he is given
dominion, knowing his victory will be the nonviolent victory of
love.
At 3pm in Lynchburg, we will gather at Bethlehem Lutheran
Church to celebrate our annual Thanksgiving Service. I know it
best as the "pie service." You are invited to join with both
congregations in singing the Thanksgiving Hymns and enjoying a
time of fellowship together afterwards.
Blessed Thanksgiving to all!