Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. (Luke 3:1-2)

Father, please let your word come to us; let your Holy Spirit speak to us.

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, (Luke 3:3)

Jesus, send forth witnesses throughout this diocese preaching repentance for the remission of sins.

as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” (Luke 3:4-6)

LORD, we long to see your saving work among us; speak your word with the power of your Holy Spirit to us. Prepare your way among us and give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to respond to you. Thank you.

***** From Bp. Dan:
* May each of you be blessed in this holy season. The simple truth that God became a Man is worthy of a lifetime of attention and assimilation.
* While Santa’s gonna’ find out who’s naughty and nice, the great reality is that Jesus came because we are all in that first category. He came, St Paul reminds us, while we were yet in sin.
* So this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we can turn to the crib and see the Saviour who loved us enough to become one of us, and to become the perfect offering for our sins.
* O Come! Let us adore Him, Christ the Lord

Albany Intercessor

And he preached, saying, “There comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. (Mark 1:7)

Holy Spirit, please bring us to the humility of John the Baptist and hearts that are prepared for Jesus coming again.

I indeed baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:8)

Jesus, please immerse us in the life of your Spirit. Please come with that same power on your church that you came with upon Saul on the Damascus Road.

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; (Isaiah 55:1a)

Father, please give us such a thirst for the waters of your Spirit that we will not be satisfied with anything less.

And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1b)

Jesus, help us receive freely what you paid the full price for on the cross.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? (Isaiah 55:2a)

Holy Spirit, give us hearts that seek after Jesus instead of the trinkets and power of the world.

Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. (Isaiah 55:2b)

Jesus, please help us listen carefully to what your Spirit is saying to the church.

Incline your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you — the sure mercies of David. (Isaiah 55:3)

Father, much of your church has walked out of the covenant relationship with you: have mercy on us and help us listen and return to you. Thank you.

Albany Intercessor

Source: Holy Trinity Missouri Synod Lutheran Church

O Key of David
Isaiah 22:15-25; Matthew 16:13-20
December 20

O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel, you open and no one can close, you close and no one can open: Come and rescue the prisoners who are in darkness and the shadow of death.

Keys are authority. The one who has the keys has authority. Shebna was King Hezekiah’s chief-of-staff. He held the keys to the palace. He misused his authority by having his tomb carved where kings were buried and to enrich himself at his master’s expense. The servant wanted to be king. And so he was stripped of his office, and Eliakim was called to replace him. Shebna had to turn in his keys. It’s a dire warning to all who hold authority not to use it for personal profit.

God used this little bit of palace power politics to prophesy something greater: “I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” Those words are applied to Christ in the Revelation. He is the one “who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens.”

Sin locks the doors on us. It makes our lives a prison house of fear. Like the disciples in the upper room on Easter evening, we are locked up into ourselves, locked away from others. We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. No matter how much we struggle against the chains and rattle the bars, we are unable to break out of the prison.

But Christ has come and entered the prison house. He took on the Law’s death sentence. He stormed the gates of death and hell with His death. He turns the key to our prison cell. He is the key, the key that unlocks us from the Law and breaks the chains of death that bind us in fear. He sets us free to live as free children in His free city.

Jesus is the key of David, who opens and no one can close, who closes and no one can open. And He entrusts the keys to His church, to bind and loose from sin in His name. He established the office of the keys in the church, that is, the office of the ministry. That is the office that turns the keys which bind and loose. We don’t have to wonder where the keys to heaven are. They are in the mouth of Peter and of the pastor God has called and ordained to speak forgiveness to you. His mouth is the Lord¹s mouth to forgive you. The sins he forgives are forgiven; the sins he retains are retained. He turns the key that unbinds you from your sin and frees you. He does it no on his own authority, but by the permission of the One who is the Key of David.

Advent disciplines us in the discipline of being forgiven, of living in the freedom of forgiveness, of delighting in the Key of David that unlocks us from our sin.

————
Prayer from Bp. ACA Hall:

O Lord Jesu Christ, to Whom is given the throne and sceptre of David Thy father over the house of Israel,
that Thou mighest extend his kingdom over all peoples:
Thou didst come in our nature,
as the Son of man forgiving sins,
dispelling sickness and loosing bonds:
to Thee now is committed all authority in heaven and on earth,
and the powers of hell cannot withstand Thy word:
Come, we pray Thee, by Thy grace, and through the instrumentality of Thy Church,
to loosen the prisoner from the chains of sin,
to enlighten with the glad tidings of Thy word all who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
that they may rejoice in the deliverance which Thou hast wrought.

December 19
O ROOT OF JESSE
Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

Readings: Isaiah 11:1-16; Revelation 22:16

O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

Symbols: Plant with Flower

The flower which springs up from the root of Jesse is another figure of Christ. Isaiah prophesied that the Savior would be born from the root of Jesse, that He would sit upon the throne of David, and in Christ this prophecy is fulfilled.

Source: http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/overviews/seasons/advent/O_3.cfm

——–

“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.” Leave it to the Lord to make an unsightly root his banner, the flag at which all kings will be silent and all nations will bow. Roots are best left unseen, underground, invisibly drawing up nutrients from the soil, feeding the branches which produce leaves and fruit. Expose the root and the whole tree dies. But cut down the tree even to a stump and it will return, as long as the root is alive.

The Root of Jesse is God¹s Promise that David’s throne would stand forever. That a son of David would establish his kingdom and sit on his throne. That promise is the root of Israel. Even when the tree was cut down, when Israel was reduced to a lifeless stump, the promise lived. “Then shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”

Our sin goes all the way to the root. Not only the fruit, but the whole tree is bad, roots and all. The axe of the Law must be laid to the root. We must die and rise anew. It’s the only way to save us. We must be grafted to new rootstock. We must be joined to the stump of Jesse, fed by the Root of Jesse, nourished by the Promise of God to save.

God grafted His Root to our sin, nailing it to a cross. The Root of Jesse became a banner for the world to see. Jesus of Nazareth. David’s son, David’s root, David’s Lord. “I am the root and offspring of David,” Jesus said. The last of His I AMs. He is both David’s root and David’s son. He was lifted up on the tree of the cross, a banner for the nations to see. As Moses lifted up the bronze serpant in the wilderness as an emblem of healing, so the Root of Jesse was lifted up the cross. Here is how God saves from sin and death. He sets the axe of the Law against His own Root, His Son, and then joins you to His death. The cross is the meeting place of God and man, Law and Gospel, wrath and mercy. There the Root takes up your sin. There He feeds you His righteousness.

You were grafted to the Root of Jesse in Baptism. Don¹t let the graft dry out; always keep it immersed in baptismal water. Draw on His forgiveness, His life, His salvation. You are living branches grafted to the living Root of Jesse. Jesus is your Vine and your Root. Apart from Him you can do nothing. Joined to Him, believing in Him, you will bear much fruit.

Wait patiently on this Root of Jesse. He is the source of your life, who now feeds and forgives you, who nourishes and sustains you, and who will come to raise you.

Source: Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod

———

Finally: an Anglican historical link, a prayer from A.C.A. Hall, a former bishop of Vermont, via the Project Canterbury site:

Isaiah xi. 1, 10, lii, 15; Romans i. 3; Matthew xxviii. 19, 20.

O Lord Jesu Christ, the new shoot from the hewn down stump of Jesse’s line,
in whom all the promises should be fulfilled;
the champion of Thy people,
to whom the Gentile nations should turn in submission and obedience:
Thou hast come of the seed of David according to the flesh,
being born in obscurity of a maiden of the royal line;
Thou hast set up Thy holy catholic Church,
commanding Thine apostles to make disciples of all nations
and to train all peoples in obedience to Thy holy commandments:
Come now, we pray Thee, by Thy grace, and tarry not,
hasten the manifestation of Thy kingdom;
grant that Thy Church may continually be increased
by the gathering in of new children to Thee,
and perfected by the increasing devotion of those who have been regenerated.

O ADONAI: O LORD AND RULER
Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

Readings: Exodus 3:1-15; Philippians 2:5-11

Symbols: The Tablets, the Burning Bush

O Lord and Ruler of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

O Adonai, et dux domus Israël, qui Moyse in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

The tablets of stone are a picture of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. They may be used to represent the whole of God’s law, the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, the Torah), or the entire Old Testament.

Source: http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/overviews/seasons/advent/O_2.cfm

——

O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai: Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.

Adonai is Hebrew for Lord. Lord is the substitute term for Yahweh, the sacred, saving, Gospel name of God. “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘Yahweh the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” To say Adonai is to say Yahweh, the Name that saves.

“Whom shall I say sent me? What is His Name?” To have the Name of God is to have God Himself. “Tell them Ehyeh asher ehyeh sent you.” I am who I am. Ehyeh. I AM. YHWH. He is the One who is. The God whose saving Name is a verb. His Name is action.

Every day, in the morning and in the evening, the Name of the Lord was proclaimed:

Shema Israel, Adonai eluhenu, Adonai echad. Hear O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH alone. There is none other like YHWH.

Where God’s Name is, there He holy ground. The Lord is present. Where His Name is, there is Gospel fire, fire that burns but does not consume. His burning love and passion to save. Where His Name is, there He is mighty to save. “I am YHWH, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment, and I will take you for my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am Yahweh, your God.”

“Hail, O favored one, YHWH is with you,” the angel said to Mary. “You will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, Y’shua. ” YHWH is salvation. Jesus incarnates the Name of God. He is YHWH in the flesh. “Before Abraham was, I AM,” Jesus said. To reject this Jesus is to reject the I AM of the burning bush, of Sinai and the Red Sea, the Lord of Israel, the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is no other Name, no other Lord who saves you.

To have a Lord is to have a redeemer. Jesus is your Adonai, your Redeemer. You didn’t make Him Lord. He became your Lord by dying and rising for you, and by baptizing you into His death and resurrection. He will come to raise the dead. And then you will confess what you now confess by faith: Adonai Y’shua Hamashiach. Lord Jesus Christ.

source: http://www.holytrinity.ms/new_page_6.htm

——

O ADONAI.
O Lord and Ruler of the house of Israel, Who appearedst unto Moses in a flame of fire in the bush, and gavest unto him the Law in Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Acts 7:30, 28; Hebrews 12:18-21, 10:16.

O Lord Jesu Christ, Who as the Angel of the Lord
didst rule and guard God’s people of old;
Who didst appear to Moses in the burning bush,
that told of Thy presence hallowing but not consuming,
and of Thy people’s preservation through fiery trials;
Who didst give the Law in Sinai
in could and majesty and awe;
Thou didst come to visit mankind oppressed
and didst redeem us therefrom
by the victory of Thy Passion:
Come, we pray Thee, now by Thy grace,
and with Thine outstretched arm deliver us
from the bondage of evil habits
from the crafts and assaults of Satan,
from the tyrrany of the world,
and the disorder into which our nature has fallen.
Write in our hearts by Thy Spirit
the law in obedience to which we shall find our true freedom,
Thy law of truth and purity and love.

Source: Project Canterbury

I’m a day behind on the Antiphons: O Wisdom should have been for Dec. 17th. Will post O Adonai tonight if at all possible.

READINGS: Proverbs 8: 1-12; I Corinthians 1:18-31

O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly, Come, and teach us the way of prudence.

Symbols: All-Seeing Eye and the Lamp
The “all-seeing eye” represents the all-knowing and ever-present God. During the late Renaissance, the eye was pictured in a triangle with rays of light to represent the infinite holiness of the Trinity. The lamp is a symbol of wisdom taken from the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25.

Source: http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/overviews/seasons/advent/O_1.cfm

———

Wisdom is God’s spokeman, the One who speaks the truth about God from the mouth of God. By wisdom the simple gain prudence, and the foolish gain understanding. Wisdom is more precious than jewels; wisdom¹s gifts are worth more than gold. Wisdom is a gift from God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Wisdom is knowledge and understanding shaped by the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Wisdom left its mark on the created order. Through Wisdom all things were created. Wisdom was with God before all things, and through Wisdom all things were made. The beauty of the stars, the splendor of the seas, the marvelous variety of birds and fishes, the intricacies of a DNA double-helix, the mystery of distant galaxies. These are Wisdom¹s fingerprints. Science studies the fingerprints, but fails to see the hand. That must be perceived by faith.

Man turned away from God seeks knowledge without the fear of God. Information and facts. Study the creation without knowing the Creator. Worship the creature instead of the Creator. “You can be like God,” said the original Lie. “You can have knowledge without God. Just reach in for yourself and grab it.” That is not the way of Wisdom but Folly, foolishness, unbelief. “The fool says in his heart there is no God.” The end of Folly is death.

Jesus Christ is Wisdom incarnate, wisdom in the flesh. He is the “power of God and the wisdom of God.” “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He reflects the very glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power.” He is the “glue” that holds the universe together. Your cells, your DNA, a table, a chair - they hold together by the power of His word. It’s what the scientists search for and long to find. The ordering wisdom of the universe. He is Jesus Christ - the One born in Bethlehem who hung on a cross and rose from the dead.

He teaches us the way of prudence, the way of Wisdom that leads to life. That way is the way of the cross, of dying and rising, repentance and faith. This way is foolishness to the wordly-wise, yet to those made wise through His Word and Spirit, it is God¹s creative wisdom to save. He will come to raise us one day. And then you who are wise in Him will shine as the brightness of the heavens.

Source: http://www.holytrinity.ms/new_page_5.htm

——

O Lord Jesu Christ, who art the very Wisdom of God most high,
by whom He made the world, impressing on His creation
the reflexion of His own power and goodness;
Who dost uphold the world in its being and harmony,
as Thou reachest from one end to the other
mightily and sweetly ordering all things;
Who didst visit God’s prophets and servants of old,
giving them ever fuller knowledge of His mind and will;
Thou in the fulness of time didst come forth in the incarnation,
clothing Thyself in our nature and living amidst our conditions,
to teach us the way of prudence–
how to use the complex nature Thou hadst framed,
how to escape the snares and temptations by which we are surrounded,
how to attain the blessedness which Thou hast prepared for us.
Blessed be Thy Name for Thy teaching by word and by example,
for the testimony of Thine Apostles and the record of the Scriptures,
for the continual guidance of Thy Spirit and the witness of Thy Saints.

Come now, we pray Thee, by Thy grace
to Thy Church and people,
and teach us in our day and need
the way of prudence–
how best to promote Thy Father’s glory,

and extend Thy kingdom,
and win our perfect life,
as we so pass through things temporal
as not to lose the things eternal.

Source: http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/acahall/antiphons.html

——-
A Score and audiofile to a chant of O Sapientia in Latin

Icon Art credit: Museum of Byzantine Civilization

A Lent & Beyond Advent Encore, originally posted November 28, 2005. This is our most popular Advent post based on our site meter stats. I need this prayer today. Quieting my heart seems impossible in the midst of such frantic busyness. But the Holy Spirit can show us how to find the quiet times our souls need. May we be attentive to His voice.
——

An Advent Prayer from the late Rev. Henri Nouwen — so appropriate for the beginning of Advent and this season which can be so frantic. May the Lord indeed help us quiet our hearts and listen for His voice each day. May we diligently seek to know His presence, rather than allowing our anxious thoughts to distract us and may He tune our ears to hear His counsel.

Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do
seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things
look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways
long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy
seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

———
art credit: Advent and Triumph of Christ (detail), Hans MEMLING, 1480; Oil on wood, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. From the Web Gallery of Art — a fantastic resource. You can read more about this picture here. Note, if artwork displays in a distorted fashion on your screen, try reducing the size of the display (”restore down”) and then restoring (”mazimize”) the display to full screen.

Prayer Credit: The only publishing information I have found for this prayer is the following:
Catholic Family Prayer Book, published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2001.

Greetings all Advent readers,

Apologies that I’ve suddenly had to curtail my blogging. Saturday I ran into some technical difficulties with our internet provider, and beginning yesterday, my week and schedule launched into hyperdrive with some unusual work and ministry demands that I hadn’t previously planned for. (And I freely confess I spent the little free time I had yesterday evening following all the news about Truro and the other Northern VA churches instead of thinking about Advent devotions.)

I do still hope to post some new materials here in the coming days. But in the meantime, I will re-post some previous years’ favorites.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Your Son Jesus Christ has warned that if we reject Him and fail to receive His sayings, we will be judged by the word of Jesus in the last day. This is a mystery we do not understand.
Yet in faith we receive the mystery. Come! Come into our hearts, dear Jesus. Come into our mind and thoughts. Come! Come into our bodies and our steps. Come!
Convict us of our sins today. Help us to attend to the movement of Your Spirit that the sayings of Your Son may penetrate our hearts, our minds, and our souls and take hold. Amen.
John 12:48

Another of William Cowper’s Olney Hymns that is filled with Advent imagery: Christ’s turning darkness into light, our longing for His glory to be revealed in us…

XVIII. Lovest Thou Me?
(John, xxi.16)

Via a comment by someone named Kevin in a post at my dear friend BabyBlue’s blog (one of the few Anglican bloggers I actually knew in person before I knew her as a blogger!) I discovered an Advent devotional guide (pdf download) from Kairos, the 20s/30s ministry at Falls Church.

Yes, it’s already nearing the third week of Advent. But, perhaps there are still many who have not found a way to truly enter into needed times of silence and spiritual disciplines this Advent. This structured guide for prayer, reflection and meditation might be helpful to you. Don’t be turned off by the fact that it’s primarily by and for “young adults.” I’m now in my early 40’s but I was very struck at how relevant some of the week two entries are for where I’m at right now spiritually, and am thus greatly thankful to have come across this tonight.

May the Lord use this as a blessing to many.

The eternal springtime will surely come
A reading from John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, 19th century

Once only in the year, yet once, does the world which we see show forth its hidden powers, and in a manner manifest itself. Then the leaves come out, and the blossoms on the fruit trees and flowers; and the grass and corn spring up. There is a sudden rush and burst outwardly of that hidden life which God has lodged in the material world. Well, that shows you, as by a sample, what it can do at God’s command, when he gives the word. This earth, which now buds forth in leaves and blossoms, will one day burst forth into a new world of light and glory, in which we shall see saints and angels dwelling. Who would think, except from his experience of former springs all through his life, who could conceive two or three months before, that it was possible that the face of nature, which then seemed so lifeless, should become so splendid and varied?…

So it is with the coming of that Eternal Spring for which all Christians are waiting. Come it will, though it delay; yet though it tarry, let us wait for it, ‘because it will surely come, it will not tarry’. Therefore we say day by day, ‘Thy kingdom come’, which means, ‘O Lord, show thyself; manifest thyself; thou that sittest between the cherubim, show thyself; stir up thy strength and come and help us’ (Ps 80). The earth that we see does not satisfy us. What we see is the outward shell of an eternal kingdom; and on that kingdom we fix the eyes of our faith.

Shine forth, O Lord, as when on thy Nativity thy angels visited the shepherds; let thy glory blossom forth as bloom and foliage on the trees. Bright as is the sun, and the sky, and the clouds; green as are the leaves and the fields; sweet as is the singing of the birds; we know that they are not all, and we will not take up with a part for the whole. The proceed from a center of love and goodness, which is God himself; but they are not his fulness; they speak of heaven, but they are not heaven; they are but as stray beams and dim reflections of his image; they are but the crumbs from the table.

[text found here]

Art Credit:
DAVID J. HETLAND * LITURGICAL & PUBLIC ART
© Copyright 2006 David J. Hetland http://www.hetland.com

Rembrandt: St. Peter in Prison (a/k/a: Apostle Peter, Kneeling), 1631

O God, most high and most near
you who send glad tidings to the lonely,
and do not hide your face from the poor.
Those who dwell in darkness you call into light.
Take away our blindness,
remove the hardness of our hearts,
and form us into a humble people,
that, at the advent of your Son
we may recognise him in our midst
and find joy in his saving presence.
We ask this through him whose coming is certain,
whose day draws near:
your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Source:
http://www.sosj.org.au/prayer/documents/Adventbooklet2005.pdf

Art Credit: http://www.mystudios.com/ (page link here)

Fr. Stephen Freeman, an orthodox priest, has a blog “Glory to God for All Things” which has quickly become daily must reading for me in the past 2-3 months. His latest two entries “Are You Saved?” and “Inside and Out” focus on the doctrine of soteriology — that is: what is salvation? What does it mean to be saved?

They are both beautifully written and deeply soul-stirring and thought provoking. I highly commend both of them to all of our readers.

Here is an excerpt from Are You Saved?

I will leap ahead today to a question I sometimes hear from local Protestants when they are asking me about Orthodoxy (I am not infrequently the only Orthodox Christian some people have met around here). That question is: “Do you believe in salvation by grace?”

Now this is a better question than, “Are you saved.” And it is able to be answered more easily from an Orthodox perspective. The answer is simply, “We not only believe in salvation by grace, we think that grace is what salvation itself actually is.”

This is to say: We believe that grace is nothing other than the very Life of God. What is wrong with us as human beings (sinners) is that we have cut ourselves off from this Life of God. We have rejected Him, and rather than walking in the Light of His Life, we walk in darkness and do deeds of darkness, hurting one another and distorting yet further the image of God within us. Thus salvation is turning to God and “uniting ourselves to Him.” We believe this happens in our acceptance of Him as Lord and Savior, and is sealed within us in Holy Baptism, nourished by Holy Communion, and every action of our life together as the Body of Christ. Grace is not simply how we are saved, it is the very content of our salvation. […]

But to the question, “Are you saved?” Orthodoxy is always hesitant. We would not ask the question that way, because it is not a Scriptural question. “Have you united yourself to Christ?” is the question placed at Holy Baptism.

But away from all theory - the simple reality is the grace of God, the very Life of God Himself. Do I live in union with His Life? Do I yield myself to Him at every moment? Do I understand that His Life is my life, and that my true self can only be found in Him? These are the questions of salvation questions worth asking, not only of myself, but with my closet friend, with my priest, with someone. What else in life could have such importance?

Perhaps as important as any of those questions is the fact that the Orthodox understanding of salvation presumes a change in me. Salvation is not extrinsic, but works in the inner person, transforming us and conforming us to the image of Christ.

I am aware that the West placed much of this thought into a category of “sanctification,” but this can also be to make it secondary instead of primary.

It is primary because without an inner change we remain what we are and the possibility of honest, true fellowship with God remains impaired, not to speak of honest, true fellowship with one another.

I have found it to be important that those who are living the Orthodox faith together in Church always remember that they themselves need to be changed and are not yet what they are going to become, and that those around them need to be changed and are not yet what they are going to become. With that understanding, we can practice mercy and patience towards one another, pray for one another, and labor together for our common salvation as Christ (and only Christ) transforms us from the broken persons that we are into the persons we are to become.

Please read the whole post
and the follow-up post here.

May the Lord stir up in our hearts this Advent a deeper hunger for Him, a delight at being in His presence that will cause us to long for and to submit ourselves to His transforming and saving power. May He help us to yield ourselves more fully to Him and live out more visibly our union with Christ entered into in our baptism.

I recently read a devotional by one of my favorite authors, Elisabeth Elliot, that struck me as being very appropriate for Advent. In writing to mothers of young children and the struggles of family life, and particularly the type of stress that a family might face on a typical Sunday morning of trying to get ready for church, and finding that these kind of everyday stresses are a terrible distraction from “spiritual reality” she offers wise advice on how we can look for God in our daily circumstances.

Advent is a season of desiring to be increasingly perfected for Christ’s glory, for longing for more of His fullness in our lives, and of awareness of the two worlds we inhabit: the physical world and the spiritual world. May the Lord help us to focus more clearly on invisible spiritual realities, and the difference His coming has made in the world and in our lives, and cause us to hope more firmly in His promise to come again.

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From here:
http://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/devotion.php/elliot/334

But everything in this scene is the King’s Business, which He looks on in loving sympathy and understanding, for, as Baron Von Hugel said, “The chain of cause and effect which makes up human life, is bisected at every point by a vertical line relating us and all we do to God.” This is what He has given us to do, this task here on this earth, not the task we aspired to do, but this one. The absurdities involved cut us down to size. The great discrepancy between what we envisioned and what we’ve got force us to be real. And God is our great Reality, more real than the realest of earthly conditions, an unchanging Reality. It is His providence that has put us where we are. It’s where we belong. It is for us to receive it–all of it–humbly, quietly, thankfully.

Sunday morning, the Lord’s Day, can be the very time when everything seems so utterly unrelated to the world of the spirit that it is simply ridiculous. Yet to the Lord’s lovers it is only a seeming. Everything is an affair of the spirit. Everything, to one who loves God and longs with a sometimes desperate longing for a draught of Living Water, a single touch of His hand, a quiet word–everything, I say, can be seen in His perspective.

Does He watch? Yes, “Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:3, KJV). Is His love surrounding us? “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3, KJV). “I will never leave thee or forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5, KJV). May I offer to Him my feeling of the dislocation between reality and my ideals, that great chasm which separates the person I long to be, the work I long to do for Him, the family I struggle to perfect for His glory–from the actuality? I may indeed, for it is God Himself who stirs my heart to desire, and He can easily see across the chasm. He enfolds all of it, He is at work in me and in those I pray for, “to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13, KJV). I may take heart, send up an instant look of gratitude, and–well, get that beloved flock into the van and head down the freeway singing!

Sir Thomas Browne wrote, “Man is incurably amphibious; he belongs to two worlds–to two sets of duties, needs, and satisfactions–to the Visible or This World, and to the Invisible or Other World” (Essays and Addresses, 2nd series).