ADVENT 2015 - "Let Every Heart Prepare"

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition; and the purpose of having church seasons, such as Advent and Lent, are to create meditative rhythms in our life together. These corporate and communal rhythms are all based upon the true and sure foundation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lord and King of all!

Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is always the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve, December 24th. It's a season marked by expectation + anticipation in preparing to celebrate the coming of Jesus.  Traditionally, Christmas begins with Christmas Day, December 25, and lasts for 12 days (The Twelve Days of Christmas) until The Day of Epiphany, January 6, which looks ahead to the mission of the church to the world in light of the Nativity and/or Jesus’ Baptism (depending on your Christian denominational traditions).

The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation will one day be put to rights. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate.

ADVENT 2015 at Grace Church:

This Advent, 2015, we are meditating on this simple, yet intricate idea: LET EVERY HEART PREPARE as we spend the four weeks of Advent looking at how each of the four Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, + John) introduced the birth/coming of the Messiah.

Some Advent Reflections:

This Advent season, spend some time reflecting on the following questions:

• What are you waiting for?  What’s the next “big thing” you want to see happen in your life? 
• What is it that you think will complete you and make you happy? In other words, what are you hoping, longing, and preparing for? 
• Does the way you answer these questions match the way you live? If not, what needs to change?

Baptism Part 2: Death of the Messiah, Resurrection for Humanity

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. -Romans 6:3-5

Baptism is an act whereby we affirm our faith in God's promise to deliver and liberate his people and his world as he delivered Israel from Egypt. Baptism is our public initiation into the community and movement established by Jesus. We last looked at how baptism is connected to the Exodus narrative and is in itself an Exodus act, Baptism Part 1: New Exodus. Jesus is a better Moses who has rescued us from sin and has led us into the new world of God's Shalom.

Baptism is a beautiful and colorful sacrament. It is much more than a string connecting worlds, times or events. It is a web weaving in and out of history and throughout the biblical story connecting and illustrating the plan and intention of God for his world and for his humanity. Paul is getting at this very thing when in his letter to the Romans he comes to the topic of baptism.

Paul introduces and applies a very important theological truth that all who call themselves followers of Jesus must come to terms with: What is true of the Messiah, is also true of his people. The Gospel writers express this toward the end of their accounts. John in his Gospel remembers these words of Jesus:

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. -John 14:12

In his prayer in John 17, Jesus expresses his desire to have all his people with him where he is because he is loved by the Father, "before the creation of the world" (vs.24). Paul might have this in mind in his letter to the Ephesians when he tells them that they have been loved and chosen by God before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)...what is true of Jesus is true of us.

So here in Romans 6, as Paul is re-telling Israel's story with the Messiah twist he comes to the Exodus. We have discussed how baptism and exodus correlate in part 1, Paul wants us to see baptism in an even greater light. The text quoted above postulates that being baptized in water is more than that, it is being baptized into Jesus' death and resurrection. Here Paul takes the truth, 'what is true of Jesus is true of his people', and exposes it's very foundation- we have become united with him (6:5). In baptism we follow Jesus into his death, an event that brought an end to death's reign. In baptism we obey the command of Jesus to take up our cross and follow him to Golgotha (Mark 8:34).

Paul continues his reasoning, if we become united to his death, we will also have his resurrection. Joining Jesus' movement and community is to join in his suffering. All who follow Jesus are called to their own wilderness experiences, but what is true of Jesus is true of us. Jesus died and was buried, his people die and enter the ground with him.  Jesus did not stay in the grave. We resurrect with him! Death has no victory over us, sin is no longer our master! (Romans 6:9-12) So in Baptism we not only re-enact the Exodus from Egypt, we re-enact humanity's Exodus from sin and death. In Baptism we demonstrate that we have been united to Jesus in such a way that we have died to sin as he did and we resurrect victorious over death as he did. By baptism we affirm faith in Jesus, that he was victorious and that we will indeed always be with him where he is. So by entering into the water we in a very real sense enter a new world and a new hope. When we raise out of the water we do so knowing that our life is new and that resurrection is in our future for our bodies as it is present in our spirits.

Have you yet to be baptized? Hurry to the water! Come to unity with Jesus in his death, resurrection and eternal life.