ADVENT: The Bidding Prayer

 

I LOVE ! The Biddings ! and the one at Advent is a stunner, we heard it at the top of the service yesterday. 

I was reminded this morning, reading a quote from John Henry Newman, just how BAD humans are at "being," how bad we are when it comes to +waiting, and just the idea of +change, especially in light of the fact that our sacred writings talk a lot about both those things. And now here we are with an entire season dedicated to both ... 

"Advent is a time of waiting, it is a time of joy ! because the coming of Christ is not only a gift of grace and salvation, but the coming of Christ is also a time of commitment, because it motivates us to 

live the present 

as a time of responsibility and vigilance."

... . The grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you ...

THE BIDDING PRAYER:

"It is time for us to wake out of sleep !

for deliverance is nearer to us now than it was when first we believed.

It is far on in the night; day is near !

Let us therefore cast off the deeds of darkness

and put on our armor as soldiers of the light !

... My sisters and brothers, we enter today the solemn season of Advent in which the Church bids us prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ;

a coming that we recall in the Child of Bethlehem;

a coming that we experience in the gift of his Spirit, in the bread of the Eucharist, in the joy of human lives that are shared;

a coming we wait for when God gathers up all things in Christ.

Let us in this holy season reflect on the coming of Christ who brings light to the world.

Let us leave behind the darkness of sin,

walk in the light that shines on our path,

and renew within ourselves the hope of glory to which he beckons us.

And as we turn towards the light,

let us have on our hearts all those who see no light,

for whom all is darkness and despair.

Let us pray that they too may be illumined by Christ who is our light."

The Book of Occasional Services • 2003 
Conforming to General Convention 2003
2
Copyright © 2004 by the Church Pension Fund
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Stations of Advent

 

Advent stations | Ancestors of Christ

Opening prayer 0:09

The First Station: Adam & Eve 1:09

Walk to The Second Station 3:00

The Second Station: Abraham & Sarah 4:00

Walk to The Third Station 5:31

The Third Station: Joshua & Rahab 6:31

Walk to The Fourth Station 7:58

The Fourth Station: Boaz & Ruth 8:58

Walk to the Fifth Station 10:22

The Fifth Station: David & Bathsheba

Walk to the Sixth Station 12:53

The Sixth Station: Mary & Joseph 13:53

Walk to Final Meditations 15:41

1 of 3 Collect from Times and Seasons: Advent, CoE,

2 of 3 Collect for the First Sunday of Advent, BCP,

3 of 3 Orthodox prayer for the second Sunday before Christmas 16:41

Advent is a penitential season that begins on the fourth Sunday before December 25th, which is called Advent Sunday in our tradition. It might be hard to believe that Advent is a penitential season today, but in ages past there were strict fasting rules and the liturgy had a somber tone just as it does today in Lent.  Most often the Gloria, the song sung  to the shepherds by the angels in the field outside Bethlehem, was omitted from the liturgy and only returned at the First Mass of Christmas. In the Western Church the season was certainly established by the late 5th century and the Council  of Tours in 567 ordered all monks to fast on every day of December.

During Advent the Church looks back on the whole history of salvation where God reaches out to His people again and again to be in relationship with them. The birth of Christ is God’s breaking into human history in a profound and physical way by becoming a human being. Advent also looks forward to Christ’s Second Coming in glory to fulfill the promise of the Kingdom of God for all people.  In the same  way that we prepare for Christmas and the celebration of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, we should prepare for his return on that last day.

=-=-=-=

We are blessed to have some works of art to help us explore the mystery of the Advent season. Simon Carr and Joan Elizabeth Goodman have created images of some of the ancestors of Christ. We are invited to look back at the people who were chosen by God to be part of the family of Jesus. They are so much like us. None of them is perfect, yet God calls each of them to do amazing things.

Thank you to Cindy Brome for the beautiful photographs of the stations.

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The St Luke’s Art Guild

The Art Guild is an ad hoc group  of  parishioners,  who  are also artists, collaborating on different projects to challenge the religious imaginations of the parish.

James Middleton and Simon Carr have both created their own 8 scene Stations of the Cross series for the parish which we have used during Lent in the past few years. In 2016 we had a group of fourteen artists, including three young artists, who had each created one of the traditional fourteen Stations of the Cross which hung in the church nave from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday.

The guild is responsible for the ofrenda that is set up in late October by the columbarium where we remember and honor our dead. The guild also sets up the Christmas Crèche with the assistance of the St Luke’s flower and altar guilds that is such a beautiful part of our celebration of Christmas.

Suggestions for new exhibits are the Prophets of the Old Testament for Advent, the men and women of the Early Church for the Season of Pentecost, and Saints of the Month where one or two saints from the church calendar are celebrated with a selection of artworks on the walls of the church nave during the month where that saint’s feast day is celebrated.

3 Minutes on The Golden Rule at Election Time

 

3 minutes to hear some guidance from the sacred writings and our traditions, from a couple of the handful of people I trust the care of my soul to, please? Video link at the bottom.

the Very Rev. Canon Daniel Ade:

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to All Saints Day. We're so glad that you could be here with us this morning.

For many months now we've been having a series of speakers come, called The Saint John Speaks Out Program, and we speak out about the issues of the day, and how we ground ourselves facing those issues in our tradition.

I've been thinking a lot about the lesson last week where Jesus tells us how to love our neighbor. We're called to love God, and then love our neighbor, and they're quite the same, and it seems for many people unclear just how you love your neighbor.

But Jesus is quoting Leviticus, and I think there's some clarity in there for us as we face this time of uncertainty. We're on the very eve of an election that will be very difficult. It might be difficult for weeks, and there will be lots of temptations for us ... to other people, so listen what to do what Jesus says when he quotes Leviticus:

“Do not hate a fellow neighbor in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly, so that you will not share in their guilt … “

and here's what we all need to listen to … well, EYE need to listen to …

“… do not seek revenge, or bear a grudge against anyone among your neighbors, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord …"

and one of the things that really struck me is that the word “neighbor” can also mean “citizen’ …

“You should love your fellow ‘citizen’ … don't bear a grudge against your fellow ‘citizen’ … don't seek vengeance against your fellow ‘citizen’”

who might have a real reason to disagree with you, maybe even passionately, but in this time of anxiety we might all be seeking revenge, and to other people who disagree with us.

the Very Rev. Dr. Canon Mark Kowalewski:

The other thing I think we need to keep in mind as we come to this week is the image of what greets us every time we enter the doors of Saint John's, and that is the baptismal font, because that is the source of our life in Christ.

We are God's wonderful, beloved, adopted children, in one family … no matter who we are, or where we come from, we are God's beloved children now.

But that identity comes with a responsibility, and, so, if you have not voted, it is your Christian Obligation to go out and vote.

We aren't telling you who to vote for, but simply to vote, and to know that many people of differing points of view also share in that same baptismal water that we all are swimming in, and to know that we are God's beloved, and as Father Dan says, we need to love our neighbor as our self.

So may God's rich blessing be with you as we come to this momentous week in the life of our nation.

FATHER DAN:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and you shall love your neighbor, your fellow citizen, as yourself.”

Two Minutes of Hate? Or the Foundation for a Day of Praise & Thanksgiving

 

THIS CANNOT BE HOW WE START OUR DAY ! We've become addicted, I have. I turn on my banked copy of Rachel, I check my twitter feed as the cathode ray tube warms up, and I get my "Two Minutes of Hate" watching in, only it's an hour and a half before I turn to my prayers. Who are we going to be, people who turn FIRST to offer thanksgivings for a brand new day, brand new breathing, all this provision and luxury and excess? or people who turn to these abominations and lies that will fill the rest of our day with fear and loathing and dread and distrust. Let's be mindful please, I say to myself for the protection of my own soul and spirit. Times seem like they're going to be rough until next year, so let's be mindful to be kinder to ourselves, especially first thing in the morning. xoxo

"The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in.

Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary.

A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.

And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp." ~ George Orwell, 1984.