Gaudete Sunday "Rejoice"!

 

This 3rd Sunday is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday on the Advent Calendar. Gaudete is Latin for rejoice.  We light the pink candle of the Advent Wreath which corresponds to joy.  It reminds me of the old Christmas carol, "Joy to the World"!  We sing it and hear it every year but do we really listen to the words?  Truly it wraps up the spirit and meaning of Advent in the very first verse:

Joy to the world, the Lord has come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing!

This verse heralds the arrival of the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords! That is definitely something to rejoice about.  Also, that same King brings the gift of salvation and everlasting life. Revelation indicates just that.  When Christ returns: "And behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work shall be." 

This time of year is often fought with depression as people navigate being alone and isolated during the holidays.  If we focus our minds on the true "Gift" given over 2,000 years ago, it may help change our perspective a bit.  Likewise, if we focus on serving God by helping and being charitable to others, we will find joy in those privileges as well.

Phil. 4:4-5

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!"

The Second Sunday of Advent

The altar and the vestments of the priest and decon are all in purple array awaiting the coming of the King of Israel.  Last Sunday we lit the first purple candle of Hope and this week the candle of Faith.  What does all this purple represent?  In the Catholic tradition, violet is the symbol of penance so it is worn for both Advent and Lent. However, it is also the color most associated with royalty!  As we are joined to Christ, the Bible says we are a royal priesthood and co-heirs with him.  Therefore if we are in Christ, we share all that the Father has lavished on the Son.  That is the gift of the "better covenant" Christ brought for us with his own blood.

1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into the marvelous light;"

So let us walk in the light as if we were these lit candles.  In doing so we are showing forth the praises of God and His Son Christ Jesus who dwell in unapproachable light.  As the decon says: "Go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life."  Yes, may we shine for Him!

Having a Joyful Advent and Christmas Season Amid Covid-19

 

It seems Covid-19 has appeared as the ultimate and preeminent "Grinch" of this year's Advent and Christmas seasons.  It's easy, therefore to let external influences steal our joy but only if we let it. We may be meeting in smaller groups but at least we are still meeting.  My local church is open with only 1/3 capacity but there is no diminishing in the edification of hearing the Word of God and praying collectively with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

So what can we do to share the Gospel, show mercy and charity this season?  In seasons past, I would bring my Autoharp to the local hospital wards and nursing homes to play Christmas carols and hymns. While I can't do that this year, what I CAN do is play these songs in my own home.  Here's my book of Songs of Christmas for Autoharp which I am now transposing for piano. It allows Christmas music to project throughout the house and even my neighborhood.  I've never heard of a noise complaint for loud piano playing!  The point is even though I can not share my joy with the outside, I can indeed express it within.  Add to this, seek out community Christmas Giving Trees where you can purchase a requested toy for a needy child.  How about cleaning your closet and donating some warm clothes to others?  Maybe you might bring by a casserole or other food items to a neighbor who will be celebrating Christmas alone this year?

Let me encourage you even as I have been encouraged by Msgr. Peter of my local parish.  That is to ask God to bless and make fruitful your ministry despite the current environmental, political, or social situations.  I'll leave you with one of my favorite ministry verses from the Apostle Paul:

"Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." 2 Timothy 4:2

Where is Your Joy?

 

Nehemiah 8:10

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰ Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

It's so easy to loose our joy these days. The news, our own daily drama and gloom & doom predictions can turn our attention from the positive things of God to the worrisome things of man. Yahushua himself said not to let the cares of this world consume us as this is the mindset of the nations who do not know Yah.

Matthew 6:25 says:
²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

When we rejoice in the promises of God, being thankful for what He has already done, we are then ready to receive that strength. Nehemiah told his brothers and sisters of Israel NOT to be sorry or sad. They had already repented of forgetting the Law and were to rejoice in God's presence with eating, drinking and sharing a feast of good things.

Keeping in mind that Christ did far more for us than the Law ever could as his blood obliterates our sins. It was shed once and for all time unlike animal sacrifices which had to be repeated often. So where is YOUR joy? Don't let the strength of the Lord Most High be snuffed out because of worries, fears and uncertainty.
Take confidence in the finished work of Yahushua in that your sins have been forgiven and rejoice! As adopted sons and daughters of the Most High, we know that He cares for us even more, providing the fat, the sweet and the good things in life because He loves us so.  

A Friend of God

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Romans 5:10

It's Christmastime so naturally we think of the Biblical account of Yahushua's birth in Bethlehem. Now while that is perhaps the most monumental event in human history, it pales in what was accomplished in the finished work and death of our Savior on Calvary. The Bible says by His Son's DEATH were we reconciled to Him and because of Yahushua's precious life, we shall be saved by the same.

Yahuwah our Heavenly Father, the only true God, had this in mind from the foundation of the world. He would have a way to reconcile us to Himself so that just like Abraham, we too can be called a Friend of God. When we did not serve or acknowledge our Father we were His enemies, choosing to serve ourselves as "gods" over and above Him. Once we have confessed His Son, we have become servants of the Almighty through Christ. However, Yahushua goes a step further to say that as we now know the Father through his teachings were are to be considered Friends of Yah!

"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn't know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you." John 15:15

The chain of command is from the Father to His Son and then to us who believe. Our faith, not works is what saves. However if we do have such faith, we will want to do good as well. Likewise a servant does not concern him or herself with what their master does. However we who listen to and obey the words of Christ are friends of God because through Yahushua, we have heard from the Father. We know our Father's business.

We can and should ASK of God, everything that we may need. Jesus relates this in the following parable:
"Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; 6for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him' Luke 11:5

Yahushua goes on to say that the friend will not get up and give you something because of the friendship. No your friend will supply as much as you want so you'll stop pestering him so he can go back to sleep! God never sleeps so He does this out of love if we ask in faith.

So next time you feel inadequate, defeated or discouraged look back on all of the good things God has already done for you as His friend. Realize that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Minor setbacks are for a season, not a lifetime. If He has brought you through terrible times in the past, He's not about to abandon you now.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Those who are called according to God's purpose are His friends! 

Always Remember to Rejoice

Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

The prophet Nehemiah wrote this to a repentant yet grieving Israel after they had learned just how far they had fallen from the Law of Moses.

So even today, we can be crushed by past sins, mistakes and simply missing the mark of prefect obedience and honoring God. That's what word "sin" really means. Like an archer who takes aim but misses the target.  A Christian is someone who knows they are covered by the once for all time shedding of Yahushua's precious blood.  He in fact is our Shabbat and makes every day sacred to his Father and our God. Back in Nehemiah's day, the temple system was set up to deal with the sins of God's covenant people. Animal sacrifice, abstaining from certain foods lest you become impure, and other rituals were part of daily like. This system, only foreshadowed the BETTER covenant which would come through Christ.

Sometimes we get too locked into technicalities. Some may say, "Well, that was the prophet talking to those particular people at THAT time." You totally miss the point that Yah is the same yesterday, today and forever! Guess what? God's mercies are still fresh and new every morning but now all of these blessings come through Christ, our only mediator.

"For there is only one God and likewise only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," 1 Timothy 2:5

So this is God's new and better covenant and new and better way of dealing with us and sin. That being the case, why would the joy of the Lord not be our strength today? That would defeat the whole purpose of a better covenant, wouldn't it?

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Hebrews 8:2

So always remember to rejoice in the Lord, no matter what things may look like in the natural. This an amazing source of strength if we would only believe and tap into it. 

New Every Morning...

They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23

It comforts me to know that each morning, God's mercies are new and fresh. So it really perplexes me why many Christians are still self-flagellating over sins and mistakes they made years ago.

Here's the thing. Christ's blood and sacrifice was made once and for all time.  All time includes the time we are living now and any future sins we may commit. Due to our fallen nature, no matter how good we try to be, each day we all sin in our words, our minds or actions. We try but Satan trips us up on one point or another even if we ourselves don't realize it.  In fact the Bible says that those who claim to be without sin deceive themselves.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

Notice it also says the truth is not in us.  So right there we're liars too! That is not Yah's plan for our lives to be lived under condemnation. Remember Yahushua came to remove us from the effect of the Law which would be simply termed, "The wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23.  We were under that judgment but Christ's love and sacrifice has changed that for repentant believers:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1

Walking after, means following a path. Our flesh wants to wear the sackcloth and ashes while beating ourselves for our sins. This is man's way of making himself righteous before God. If we are going to do all of that, what value is Christ's sacrifice for our sins? Are we really trusting in Jesus' finished work on the cross in that through HIM we are now the righteousness of God?

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

So today may have been rough. You lost your temper. Maybe you were where you should not have been doing something you should not do. Don't be discouraged because that is just what ha-Satan wants you to be. He is the accuser of the brethren for that same reason. Ask for forgiveness and for Christ to strengthen you for the next time. Also remember, tomorrow is a new day and God's mercies are new as well.