Advent Devotions for the Home

click on link for pdf via drop box of devotion script

Advent is a time of spiritual preparation as we await the coming of Christ.  This coincides with the coming of Christmas.  The tradition of lighting four Advent candles, one for each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, is often used in churches but can also be used in the home.  This script is a modified version for use in a home for a family, group or an individual.  The materials required are simple, one large white candle in the center, the Christ Candle, representing Christ, the light of the world, and four colored candle (usually three purple and one pink but four purple can be used).  These can be purchased along with an advent ring (smaller than the ones typically used in church worship) designed to hold each of the four candles from an on-line Christian supply stores or at a local Catholic or Christian book store.  Use the script provided for each of the days scripture reading, prayers or carols.  One reading per week is used with a candle lit at each of the four selected days leading up to Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  It can be done on a Sunday, or another day of the week.  Other carols, songs, praise hymns, prayers, can also be added.  The theme of this devotional centers around the prophecies of a coming Messiah in the Old Testament and the fulfillment in Jesus Christ.  If this is not a tradition in your family, try adding it this year and see if this spiritual practice may assist in oriented your heart and mind to the call of the gospel during this time of year.

What is the Lectionary?

The revised common lectionary (RCL) is a three year cycle of weekly readings from scripture used by the mainline Churches in the United States and Canada, built around the seasons of the church year.  Just as the Christian liturgical calendar reflects the life of Christ, so the RCL readings follow the same pattern usually centered on the Gospel reading with additional readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, Apocrypha and New Testament thematically related.  In Ordinary Time, the RCL follows an emphasis, the Patriarchs and Exodus (year A) the Monarchy (year B), and the Prophets (year C).  The gospels follow the pattern of Matthew (year A), Mark (year B), Luke (year C) and John interspersed.  There are several advantages to using the lectionary both in worship and for personal use.  Using the lecationary encourages churches to be in sync with each other, so churches throughout the country will be focused on the same readings, it allows parishioners to know prior to Sunday what scripture will be used in worship (in reading and preaching).  Sunday schools, small groups, and Bible studies can all use it as well for reading and study.  It also introduces congregations to some passages that a pastor may not otherwise chose to preach on, and of course, it emphasizes the Christian year and the richness inherent to the Christian calendar.  There are several on-line sources that publish the RCL in various forms, below are some lectionary resources available on line.  The site at the Vanderbilt Divinity Library is especially useful as it includes a FAQ and numerous other related topics and resources to the lectionary including its history, information about its composition and editorial board, and printable formats.

Lectionary site at Vanderbilt Divinity Library

Lectionary page of Presbyterian Church USA

Lectionary site of Episcopal Church

Lectionary page of ELCA

Roman Catholic Lectionary for Mass

Orthodox Lectionary for 2016

Training site for lectors and readers

Happy New Year!

It may seem a little odd to read the expression "happy new year" in the last week of November.  However, for Christians, the beginning of the Christian liturgical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent.  Too often, Christians have confused the civil and religious calendar.  In fact, for many Protestants, the loss of its historic and theological anchor has left it looking for days to theme its Sunday's.  Father's Day, Mother's Day, Homecoming Day, Patriot Sunday, and many many more civil holiday's have filled bulletins on Sunday mornings where Lent, Advent, or Pentecost once reminded Christians of those significant events.  The Christian calendar follows the significant redemptive events of God's working in the world through the fulfillment of Jesus Christ.  It is a reminder, that just as we have seasons, as winter yields to summer, so special days are observed that moves us from one cycle to another in the Christian year.  The church is reminded and invited to revisit annually, the cycle of our spiritual life in the triune God.  

From the beginning, early Christian converts began reorienting their worship celebrations like Passover and First Fruits gave way to the newly interpreted Easter and Pentecost.  Today, the calendar reflects the life of Jesus beginning with Advent, which can be seen as a bridge between the second coming and Christmas, Christmas, Epiphany, followed by Lent, Easter, and Pentecost cycle.  Although there are many more important Sunday's including events in Christ's life and the church, the basic cycle follows a similar pattern to Christian worship of Preparation, Celebration and Sending.  In Advent and Lent the church prepares and reflects, in Christmas and Easter the church celebrates, and in Epiphany and Pentecost the church is sent out to live our faith.

While it is appropriate to acknowledge other significant cultural days in the context of worship, these days should not completely overshadow or worse, replace the Christian calendar.  Those days are there for a reasons, both historical and theological.  As many sects of Protestantism have for different reasons forgotten or rejected these liturgical days, other celebrations have filled in the gap.  Sometimes they are used for evangelism, but they are always problematic.  Mother's Day and Father's Day can both be painful reminders to many people of broken relationships, deaths, tragedies, or unfulfilled dreams.  Patriot holidays can nationalize the worship blurring the lines between the Kingdom of God and our own national goals which can sometimes be good but other times distorted.  The liturgical calendar reminds us that regardless of what is happening in our lives, or in some cases because of the loss that is happening in our lives we focus on Jesus Christ, and the redemption and work of God through the Spirit in bringing us into a different reality, the reality of the Kingdom of God.  

While it is good to spend some time on Veterans Day remembering those who served and died, and while we can take time to say prayers for mothers and fathers, and other observation of significant civil or national events, the church should never find itself struggling between having to theme a service between a church and civil celebration.  Focusing correctly on the historically redemptive act of God in Jesus Christ will always lead to the church hearing, listening, and enacting the emphasis found in God's word, Jesus Christ the word made flesh.  It has even been suggested that even the gospels themselves follow this same pattern of worship as the pattern in the liturgical year.  The proclamation or announcement of the birth of Christ, the hearing of the proclamation in the sermons and actions of Jesus, the passion of Christ (as enacted in Holy Communion), the celebration of resurrection, and finally the sending out of Christians into the world (the Great Commission).  

The life of worship reflects the life of the church and these important days serve to reorient our life in Christ.  Any church who currently does not use the liturgical cycle in its worship should be encouraged to become educated in the cycle as well as the meaning behind each day and find creative ways to celebrate the spiritual themes throughout the year.  This not only emphasizes the work of Christ, but also other important points of Christian doctrine.  Below several links have been added to liturgical planning calendars available on-line. 

Presbyterian Liturgical Planning Calendar

Episcopal Planning Liturgical Calendar

Roman Catholic Liturgical Planning Calendar

Greek Orthodox 2016 Liturgical Calendar

Understanding Presbyterian Governance and Polity

Click on the above video to watch an informational description of the Presbyterian Church polity and governance.  This instructional video helps to explain how the Presbyterian Church attempts to discern God's will in executing the mission and work of the church.

There are three forms of church government, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational.  The first two are both guided by historic principles of church governance, they are connectional churches.  The episcopal form of government is perhaps the oldest, having a hierarchical system of bishops and diocese.  This system of government includes papal, canonical and synodic authority in its structure.  There is still a great deal of diversity within an episcopal system as illustrated in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or the Protestant Episcopal system.  The second, is a representative system, comprised of elders, both clergy and lay elected by the congregation or ordained by a presbytery.  Consistories or sessions are the council of the church that governs the local congregation.  A General Assembly convenes to decide major issues facing the church.  In the last, the congregational system, there is much greater autonomy in the local congregation.  Most have a board comprised of either deacons or elders.  The church may be a part of a loose association, but local congregations remain completely autonomous.  The above video is descriptive of how the Presbyterian church in the USA operates as a Presbyterian system of church government.