The Second Sunday in Advent

"BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen." (Collect for Second Sunday in Advent 1928 BCP pg 92)

Advent 2 for most 1928 prayer book Anglicans has always been called "Bible Sunday.” No, it’s not the day we decide to bring bibles to church and parade around the sanctuary. Rather it’s because The Collect, which dates from the Reformation, asks for God's grace that we might"...read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest..." the sacred scriptures. At that time, Thomas Cranmer, (First Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry the VIII), issued a decree that an English Bible should be placed in every church. One of the great things about the Reformation was the desire of the leaders to give the Bible to the people. The problem? Most of the people couldn’t read. So, the bible became the reading primer of the day. Imagine that in today’s modern public schools.

"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning: that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4)

In the epistle appointed for Advent 2, St. Paul refers to the Scriptures, meaning the Old Testament. There was no New Testament at the time since Paul was busy writing some of it. In doing so he was revealing the truths of the Old Testament, arguing that they always point to Jesus.

Christianity is a religion of revelation. Essentially, what Jews and Christians believe is clear in what God revealed to us in his word. I get asked all the time what’s the difference between traditional orthodox Episcopalians, and the liberal humanist church. When asked about their beliefs, most liberal humanists (or atheists) would say, "I think" or "I feel…” Any good traditionalist worth his salt would reply to the same question, 'But, the Bible says this about it...' Big difference - yes?

St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, calls Jesus, "a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." Paul is telling the Romans that Jesus is the promised Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. But he also points out those revealed promises are for all men.

There use to be a time when the church actually taught that it was a good thing to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Scriptures. The present attitude found in so many modernist parishes is the notion that the church has out grown scripture in favor of well, anything else.

My challenge to each and every person who reads this blog is for you to read the Bible on your own every day. Look at the Psalms and Lessons index at the front of your prayer book; it’s a great place to start. The whole idea of a Bible study is to keep you strong as you go through this life. You will soon discover that there is something even better for you in the next.

"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning: that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4)

Be Comforted,

Bishop Ian

Walking in the Light

Today is Advent 1, the beginning of the season of Advent and the starting point of the new ecclesiastical year. What makes today different from the secular New Year’s Day is that there is little of the typical "out with the old, in with the new."

If anything, our Christian Advent is a promise of more of the same. We plan to read the same lessons and to say the same prayers in this new year that we did in the year past, and for almost two thousand years before that. Even our New Year’s resolutions, found in this morning’s excerpt from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, are the same old resolutions that Christians have made every year since that glorious year so long ago when our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven.

So are we in a rut? The secular world (which means literally, "the world of this age") would say we lack imagination and our religious observances are boring because we have no plans to change what we believe and what we hope for from year to year.

Advent promises us otherwise. The Latin Adventus means simply a coming, but the Church uses it to refer to two comings of the same Divine Person: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On Advent Sunday we look back to the pinnacle of history, as far as the purposes leading to the conception and birth of the Son of God, made man by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary. When Jesus Christ shed his Blood on the Cross and offered his life before his Father’s throne, all sins were redeemed - completely bought and paid for. The victory of God in Christ over the world, the flesh, and the devil was accomplished once and for all, and all anybody had to do, then, now, or a thousand years from now to share in that victory, is to confess his sins and to submit to Jesus Christ his Son.

That was the First Coming of Jesus Christ. We lived under God’s judgment, and the terms of the salvation of mankind were made as clear as they could possibly be. All the history that has followed that First Coming, however great or small, ties up all the loose ends like the end of a novel.

The Second Coming represents no change in plans on the part of God, no surprise ending, no new thing at all, with the exception that Jesus Christ will announce the end of human struggles and the beginning of eternal blessedness for the resurrected and redeemed. This is the true "world without end." This is the eternal reality; a changeless God whose rule cannot be overturned.

In our prayer book, words like “day-spring” are used to describe Advent. Day-spring means the dawn, and the first coming of Jesus Christ was the dawn of salvation upon the world. The Second Coming isn’t the sunset part of the story, but the second dawn that puts an end to the darkness of sin and of Satan’s legions.

Today in church, as we lit the candle of hope, we were assured of the same sunrise, the Light of Christ in the manger, and the Light of the world when he comes again. Our calendar reminds us every year of the reality and trustworthiness of the promise of light in Advent. The Light has come. The Light will come again. And when that light comes, we must belong to it or endure an eternal darkness. With our new Church year, we begin again the lessons, prayers, and discipline that will prepare us for light eternal.

Be walking in the light,

Bishop Ian

Advent 2 - "Bible Sunday"

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Collect for Advent 2, 1928 BCP Pg. 91

The Second Sunday in Advent is traditionally known as "Bible Sunday". The collect, which dates from the Reformation, asks for God's grace that we might "...read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest..." the sacred scriptures. Thomas Cranmer (First Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry the VIII) issued a decree that an English Bible should be placed in every church. One of the great things about the Reformation was that its leaders wanted to give the Bible to the people. The problem was most of the people couldn’t read…. so the bible became the reading primer of the day. Imagine that in today’s modern public schools.

Cranmer also made sure scripture would be the foundation of our prayer book. From its beginning in 1552 the prayer book was and is still two-thirds direct scripture, while the remaining third is scripture put into a devotional form. That means that all the prayers, collects, thanksgivings, invocations, litanies etc., as well as the responses of the people are biblically based.

So there you have it - Bible Sunday but there’s more to the story! (Cue the scary music and dim the lights.) The Gospel of St. Luke 21:25 has Jesus talking about the end of the world; the prophesy of destruction, and the end of all things. But it is not just about end times - all that scary passing away of stuff and the final judgment of this and that. It’s also about Christ coming in power and glory! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, now all earthly things are passing… But Jesus is forever. His words will never pass.

The Epistle appointed for Advent 2 is also perfect for the Christmas season. Romans 15:4-13 also tells us that Advent is a season of hope, faith, and expectation to both Jews and Gentiles. Paul speaks of the promises of God, referring to Isaiah's prophecy:

There shall be a root of Jesse,
And he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,
In him shall the Gentiles hope.

Advent 2 is indeed Bible Sunday; a book full of promises fulfilled, and some yet to come. What a joy to know that we are heirs of those universal promises, that by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
Collect for Advent 2, 1928 BCP Pg. 91

Be hearing, be marking, be learning…

+Ian