Greetings!
Thank you for joining us as we begin the journey of Advent. Each day you will receive a scripture reading, a reflection on that reading and a short prayer. Join us as we journey together in anticipation of our Savior's birth. As you begin these daily Advent meditations, consider adopting some type of "rule of life." Consider spending a brief time each day in Bible reading, reading these meditations, exploring the "family worship section" of the Book of Common Prayer or any of the Advent themed links shown at the bottom of this email. If we continue an activity for 21 days, research shows, it becomes a habit.
Christian Formation Commission
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Scripture
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
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This inclusion of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians seems on first glance to be out of place for Advent. What does this passage have to due to the preparation of our celebration at Christmas?
It connects the birth of our savior with our Easter hope. Society bombards us at this time of year with a diet of forced joyfulness. It's hard to get away from the Christmas carols following us in the stores, on the radio and even in the gym. Gaiety is expected at holiday parties. The word joy is found on the front of Christmas cards and even in lights upon our neighbors' front lawns.
The church keeps Advent as a season of watchful expectation and preparation. We postpone our joyful celebration until Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It's right that we celebrate the birth of our Savior with pent up joy. But there are people, and not just a few people, for whom Advent and Christmas is a particularly difficult time; a time in which there is no joy. The season might have been marred by loss of loved ones. Painful memories of loss can even be magnified by the expectation of joyfulness. These two verses from 1 Thessalonians are a needed and appropriate message of hope to those who grieve and mourn in this season: a reminder that we are resurrection people and that "God will bring with him those who have died."
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Prayer
In this time of preparation and celebration,
we ask God's blessing and grace on all those
who mourn and weep for losses new and old.
Grant them comfort and strength in this time of trial.
Renew their hope.
These things we ask, O God, through Jesus Christ,
God made human, who broke the bonds of death. Amen
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Saturday, December 8, 2012