@AlpineAnglican Church of the Blessed Trinity
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the liturgical calendar.
Christmas Carols and Missa Cantata, Saturday 6:30pm at Alpine Elementary School Auditorium. Come celebrate the joy of Christ’s birth!
Worship Weather Report
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but it’s only the Fourth Sunday of Advent. This Saturday night begins the Twelve Days of Christmas and we’ll begin the season with Christmas Carols and Holy Communion (Missa Cantata). This is our principle service for this major feast. It is a perfect occasion to bring guests.
Today started out partly cloudy, but by the end of our service sprinkles were beginning to fall. It looks like more snow for the high country which is already blanketed with snow. At 2000 feet we’re not likely to see any snow unless temperatures really drop.
Nick and the Padre played guitars for the Advent classics today: In the bleak midwinter, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, and Creator of the Stars.
Ten-Minute Teaching
The traditional themes of Advent are death, judgment, heaven, and hell. These are themes of which we need a personal reminder as we look to the Kingdom of God and eternity. Whether we are willing to face them or not they lie before us and remind us of how fortunate we are to have a God who loves us and offers us to join him for eternity.
Propers for Today
The First Sunday of Advent
Blunt writes in his commentary on the Book of Common Prayer:
On this Sunday, the close approach of the King of Glory to His kingdom of grace is heralded by Scriptures of which the pointed words are, "The Lord is at hand," "Make straight the way of the Lord." The Collect has lost its Gregorian pointedness by a return to its Gelasian form, which makes the whole a prayer for the Presence of God the Father, instead of what it was in the Pre-Reformation books, one for the Coming among us of the Incarnate Son. The alteration was probably made under a strong impression of the truth that all prayer should be addressed to the Father through the Son; and also with reference to the words spoken by our Lord immediately after He had given the command respecting prayer, and had promised a return of His own Presence, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto Him, and make Our abode with him." [S. John xiv. 23] In Collect and Scriptures the Church sounds her last herald-notes of the season which precedes Christmas; and we seem to hear the cry of the procession as it draws nearer and nearer, "The Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." It is a cry that should bring peace and joy to her children. "Rejoice in the Lord alway," for "One standeth among you," even now, Who brings down from on high "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding."
Link to the Collect (prayer) and Bible Readings
Tim M was our reader for this morning.
Today’s Message:
The Promise of a Whole Life: Theological Integrity and Spiritual Vitality
If these weeks before Christmas are shooting holes in your spiritual life you may want to be reminded that God doesn’t repair holes, but he will pour in his life to make your life new.
Alice A made crustless quiche to fortify the troops before our Caroling excursion today and top off with some peppermint butter cookies and peanut butter cookies. Mary Lou R brought some chocolate chip cookies to round off the delicious snacks.
We headed down the hill to sing Christmas Carols and deliver cookies and chex-mix.
We were also blessed to celebrate Betsy L's 85th Birthday! ...may seasons of joy be given...
LORD, grant us a vision of your being and beauty, that in the strength of it we may work without haste or worry.