Collect for Advent Three
Almighty God, who wonderfully created us in your own image and yet more wonderfully restored us through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity, so we may share the life of his divinity; who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Ps. 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
Galatians 4: 4-7
Luke 2: 15-21
During one of our Christmas services, in poor light, the reader of Hebrews 1, instead of ‘He is the reflection of God’s glory’, said ‘He is the revolution of God’s Glory’. It might have been unintentional – but whether it was or wasn’t, it was the Holy Spirit that spoke those words.
Yes, the Christ is indeed the reflection of God’s Glory – but He is also the leader of the revolution against the power of the Satan in the world. He refuses to allow His people to be oppressed, refuses to allow them to be condemned, refuses to allow prejudice replace justice, refuses to allow love to be suppressed by anger, greed and hatred.
In the eyes of the Temple leadership, Jesus is Himself regarded as a terrorist attacking their religious hierarchies and complacent self-centred teaching. But the term is often misused. When people fight back against what they see as injustice, the ruling party will label those who revolt against it as ‘terrorist’ to justify suppression, often by force. But those who are subject to such unjust persecution would instead refer to themselves as ‘Freedom Fighters’.
History is filled with examples, from Simon the Zealot, through the Suffragette movement to Nelson Mandela; Guy Fawkes through Che Guevara to Osama Bin Laden. We revere some, revile others, depending on who we are and where we stand – but to a greater or lesser extent, violence and bearing arms is a common feature.
Jesus – the revolutionary terrorist according to the Sanhedrin – is different, however, in one unique regard.
His only weapon is love.
Even for enemies.
Which is how His Victory is won.
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Praying Together 8th January 2023
Essentially, our Plough Service is a way in which we can say ‘Please’ – just as on Harvest Sunday, we say ‘Thank you’.
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What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?
Praying Together 25th December 2022
It only takes one candle to be lit and the darkness loses its power to frighten. That is our mission.
Praying Together 18th December 2022
In a hundred years, and for hundreds of years after that, the Nativity story will still be told, as it has been for the last two thousand.
Praying Together 11th December 2022
Few of us will be called by God to do something earth-shattering. But we will all be called to fulfil His purpose in our lives.
Praying together 4th December 2022
It’s not how we serve between Christmas and New Year that matters, it’s how we serve between New Year and Christmas.
Praying Together 27th November 2022
Pause for a moment; for a change, a Meditation rather than a sermonette. Thanks to Clare Anglicans
Praying Together 20th November 2022
He will turn His face to Jerusalem, the theatre where His Destiny will be revealed – a destiny of suffering for the sake of unrequited love.
Praying Together 13th November 2022
So on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, it is right to keep silence for the fallen, in every sphere of life, but unless we resolve to remember them as we remember Jesus – every day of the year – it means little.