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The emphasis of the First Sunday of Advent is one of watchfulness and God fulfilling His divine purposes, even if it might not be according to our expectations. Matthew’s Gospel took us to the late stages of Jesus’ earthly ministry, which might seem like an odd way to begin Advent, but it helps to remind us of the faithfulness to which we’re called as His servants who do not know when He will return, a helpful perspective to maintain.

This week, for the Second Sunday of Advent, we find ourselves in the third chapter of Matthew’s Gospel where he records the ministry of John the Baptist, who prepares Israel for the coming of the Messiah by preaching a message of repentance. John is clear that religious heritage is not enough nor even to simply profess repentance. Rather, true repentance is seen in the fruit that it bears; in the actions that are taken unto righteousness. According to Isaiah 11, righteousness is central to the Messiah’s ministry. It is a mark of His reign over all the earth, even as He proves to also be the hope of the Gentiles (Is. 11:10; Rom. 15:12).

Some of God’s most challenging and comforting messages came to His people in times of difficulty and distress, so let us heed the Baptist’s cry and pursue lives of repentance and righteousness befitting of those belonging to our Messiah’s kingdom.

Our church year begins today as we usher in the season of Advent. How fitting, now as we turn our attention to that expectant and watchful season, that we do so here in the U.S. on the heels of our season of Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving is not a church calendar holiday, it is a good and right celebration when we gather with friends and family to give thanks for all our Lord has done for us. And while we are, of course, thankful for all things, especially during Advent we remember and are thankful for the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He took on flesh and blood for us, His people. As we enter Advent, the Book of Common Prayer has these words for us to use in our own prayers:

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

Recall the words of Jesus from John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” And we now walk in the light because of the incarnation of the light of the world.

When Israel, Yahweh’s bride, forgot her history, forgot her story – the story of redemption that God achieved for and through His people, especially the Exodus from Egypt – then she would inevitably forget the Lord who had redeemed her and go hoaring after false gods and idols. This story of redemption, this overarching story is made up of smaller stories all along the way. Think about how the Bible is written. It is written, primarily as narrative, as story. A helpful way for us to keep the story at the forefront of our minds, for us to remember is through the church calendar, which is a reflection of the Gospel story itself.

Consider that the Gospels themselves do not simply give information about Jesus, but, as one theologian states, “provide a narrative that we can inhabit, a story we can make our own. This is one way in which we can become the people God calls us to be. The traditional Christian year is a deep-rooted and long tested means by which that aim can be realized.” All Saints’ is especially set apart to aid our memory, to help us see our place in the story, and to consider the entire story that has already been told. That is a healthy thing, and not only because it provides perspective, but, again, because it encourages us in our faith and in our walk with Christ when we consider others whom the Lord has kept, those who faithfully ran the race until its end.

The word “saints”, which means “holy ones,” is simply a term to describe Christians. The apostle Paul in the opening of his first letter to the Corinthians, writes:

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.

So the term is not referring to just a select few, or Christians who have reached a “celebrity” status within the church. No, it is a day about all believers, all the faithful since Adam and Eve. To be sure, there are some high profile names among the saints – even as Hebrews 11 indicates – but not to the exclusion of all who are in Christ. All Saints’ is a catholic celebration (catholic meaning “universal”), and it is quite appropriate, having celebrated the Reformation specifically one week, to celebrate the universal church the next. When we celebrate the Reformation, what are we doing? We are remembering Christians that have gone before us, those whom the Lord has used for the sake of His Church and Kingdom upon the earth. That is not an unbiblical thing to do. In fact, the Bible calls us to remember time and time again, and one of the things that caused problems for God’s people more often than not was when they forgot.

Today’s celebration of All Saints’ Day should be one of great encouragement to the church as a whole, and to each and every one of us as Christians who constitute the body of Christ. In the Lord’s providence, through the wisdom of our forebears who developed the liturgical calendar, we have this day of celebration, this day of remembering those who have gone before us in the faith.

The purpose is not to in any way to glorify men or to exalt the “super-Christians” of the faith. Not in the least. Rather, at the heart of All Saints’ Day is the declaration and celebration of the unity of the Church, the unity that God’s saints have in Christ, saints of the past with saints of the present. As one pastor states, “All Saints’ is a time to remember all those who have lived before us and through whom God has worked.” As we find ourselves in the present moment, it is good for us to look to the past, to consider what God has done in and through His chosen people in bygone ages, especially during times of difficulty and conflict, in order that we might be further emboldened for the future that awaits us, whatever that might entail. To be continued…

I often make the dad joke — no, not often, I do it every year at Reformation time — “my thesis is that Martin Luther really nailed it, I hope you don’t find that too indulgent of me.” This joke has lost none of its charm for me. Regardless of your protestant tradition, be it Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian (and more), we all share the Reformation in common as an inflection point in history that God used to shape the church. And this inflection point is marked by October 31st, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his Ninty-five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg. In his theses, Luther took on a believer’s life of repentance, what authority a minister has to forgive sins, indulgences, purgatory, the Roman doctrine of the treasury of merit, and more.

It was important because, as sinful and imperfect humans, we often need to be corrected and brought back to and grounded in the truth of the scripture. The Reformation was one of those times when God lit a fire that spread far and wide throughout His church and continues to have implications even today 505 years later.

It is good and right that we celebrate and mark this time in our calendars. It is also good and right that we remember that God is working among His people and continually reforming his Church. We do well to keep in mind a phrase which later came into use, and which we still use today, semper reformanda: always reforming. May God continue to grant our reform in and through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Last year, Paul Vaughn, faithful member of his church in Centerville (and long time friend of mine), participated in a peaceful, pro-life protest. Last week, the FBI deemed the timing appropriate to arrest Paul for this far past event at gun-point on his farm, surrounded by his children, and cart him off without answering any of his or his family’s questions as to the nature of the arrest. We know now that it had to do with that protest from a year ago. Paul and Bethany have 11 children in all, the oldest of whom are married with little children of their own, the youngest of whom is toddling around in a diaper.

There are many questions surrounding this arrest, but what is not in question is the Vaughn’s commitment to Christ, family, and children. Their money is where their mouth is and the powers that be have decided to persecute them for it. In 2 Timothy 3:12–13, the Apostle Paul says, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” So those who despise God and his word purposing evil against us is not unexpected. Paul goes on, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.”

Paul is facing up to 11 years in prison for trying to peacefully stop the murder of unborn babies. Please lift up Paul and his family at this time that they may walk faithfully to that which God has called them.

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” ― C.S. Lewis

It’s easy to believe we are totally in control of our lives every action is directed by ourselves alone. We often don’t do this on purpose, we’re just so used to ordering our lives as we see fit that we forget every breath we take is because God has ordained it so. One has only to look at our prayer list to see that a lot of folks, many right in our midst, are experiencing things over which they have no control.

This is one of the reasons it’s a good to be in a daily habit of prayer. When we bring our petitions, our anguish, our anxiety, to the one who ordains all things, it reminds us who is really in control — and it’s not us. The Apostle Paul, by way of his letter to the Philippians, in chapter 4 verse 6 instructs us: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” Doing this daily, when you rise up in the morning, for instance, is a good way to fulfill this command and place our trust and hope in Christ. And as we do, we have the promises of Psalm 34:17–19:

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Praise the Lord for His goodness to us!

While the world overturns definitions and gender roles, it’s good to remember that simply following the templates God has given can be very powerful tools in shaping the culture and carrying out God’s purposes.

Men, in a general sense, are designed to take leadership roles. Each man has different giftings to be sure, but men are designed to take dominion, to cultivate, to grow, to take what was shapeless and useless and shape it into something good and useful. Young men should prepare for this by taking on smaller ideals of the role. Men already in these roles and taking on more of these leader positions, should remember to lead as a servants. They should remember to lead joyfully, remember to be eager to listen and not wield an iron fist. They should not exasperate those under them.

Women, in general, have been designed to beautify and glorify, to be an aid in taking dominion. Like men, this will look different from woman to woman, but the principle applies. Young women should focus on the simple duties and daily tasks in their purview to help with and beautify. Woman already in this position should remember that they wield much influence in the life of their husbands, children, and those around them. They should beautify their domains with smiles and love.

As we seek to influence and shape culture, let us do so by working with the designs God gave. As we do, we will find joy designed exactly and specifically for us.

We are living in a time when the way God made things to be is questioned and if you believe in the truth of the created order, you are labeled as an extremist. If a boy says, “I’m actually a girl,” or a girl says, “I’m a boy,” they can get supporting “medicine” and dangerous and life altering medical procedures to help support the delusion. And public schools are full of alphabet soup with non-sequitur pronouns galore.

As we navigate these times, it can be difficult to know how to raise our children, what information to give them and expose them to and when. There is no doubt this may look different from family to family. But regardless of any differences, one thing is certain: our children — the next generation of Christ’s church — need to be grounded firmly in the truth of the Word. They need, more than ever, to be brought faithfully to partake in covenant renewal through word and sacrament each week. They need to learn of and handle the truth so much that the lies in the world are easily identifiable as the absurdities they really are.

As we look and see the war raging all around, remember that what you do on the Lord’s Day in bringing your family to Christ, and what you do every day of every week in training and nurturing them, is one of the most effective means of warfare you have. And remember, Christ has already given you the victory! Praise be to Him!

Last Wednesday during prayer meeting, we experienced unusually quick positive feedback to an item on our docket. The prayer request was of a work opportunity before one of our members to receive a promotion and salary increase. Word was received by a family member while we prayed that the promotion went through and relayed that to us through that member’s prayer of thanksgiving.

Of course, the Lord doesn’t always provide that sort of feedback that quickly. But he does love to give good gifts to His people. And sometimes his quick response surprises and delights us. The timing is, of course, impeccable in terms of the sermon we heard just this past week that we are to be a praying people. And as we learned that the Apostle Paul even relayed prayer requests in his letter to the Colossians, so also, we relay to each other on Wednesday night and by means of our prayer list our prayer requests that we each might know what to pray for and how to be praying for each other.

In his first letter to the Thessalonians, in chapter 6, Paul instructs them to “pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Then he says a couple verses later, “Brethren, pray for us.” And then James tells us in James 5:16, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” And so, brethren, as you’re able, make use of the prayer list, and pray for your brothers and sisters. It is the will of God for you!

Today, a church that St. Mark has sponsored in the CREC (our denomination), Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, will officially receive members. This is indeed a joyous thing to celebrate as they continue to represent the body of Christ on the north side of Nashville. As is good and right on such occasions, they are celebrating with a psalm sing and feast after the service and have invited us to join them. We hope to see many of you there as we enjoy fellowship with these dear brothers and sisters.

We read in 1 Timothy 3 of a rightly ordered church being a good and Godly thing, and Pilgrim Hill continues to serve the Lord and His people faithfully in taking this next step.

As the foundations of the ungodly society around us crumble, and as more liberal churches push away from the faith handed down by our fathers and the apostles, we’re seeing more interest for conservative, bible believing, liturgical churches. When the sheep aren’t fed, they look for pastures with green grass. We’re praising God for the work he’s doing at Pilgrim Hill, for work such as Richard is doing to start a faithful church over in the Cookeville area, and for other inquiries we’ve fielded of people hungry for faithful churches. God is, as always, working among his people, and we’re exited to see it unfold!