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And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:13–14).

Humanity lay in a coffin of its own making, being “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Men, women, and sadly children wallowed in the miry pit of their own sinful hearts and actions (Jer. 17:9; Ps. 40:2, 51:1–12). Their world was enshrouded in the darkness of unbelief and unrighteous living (Isa. 9:2; John 1:5). Their minds were blinded in futility (Eph. 4:17–18). Sin and its great consequence, death, were the spiritual conditions under which all of humanity existed, under the bondage of him “that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).

No one was exempt.

The sin of the first man, Adam, and humanity’s subsequent sins, set the stage for the primary actor of the biblical narrative, God, the one “which is, and which was, and which is to come” (Rev. 1:8). The Creator and Sustainer of all--the self-sufficient One who needs nothing beyond Himself and the God who was sinned against--was about to enter the drama of human history in a way He had never done before. God was pleased to pursue the pinnacle of His creation by becoming just like sinful humanity, except without sin.  He entered this sinful world in order to bring the slaves of hell into heaven. This is the gospel of the incarnation.

From Daniel R. Hyde, God With Us: Knowing the Mystery of Who Jesus Is (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2007), 15.

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To read the rest of chapter 1, download the .pdf here.

The four Sundays prior to Christmas (Nov. 30, Dec. 7, 14, 21 in 2008) form the Christian season of Advent. Below is a bulletin insert I originally posted on this blog on November 27, 2007:

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THERE'S NO DOUBT that we live in a consumer culture. Look around. Every year Christmas decorations go up a little earlier than the year before. It used to be that "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, was the day business relied upon to get them “in the black for the year.” Yet they’ve wised up. If they move the sales up even before Halloween there is more money to be made.

Further, it’s no secret that Christmas has been co-opted into the generic, "Holiday Season." Cultural Conservatives annually update their lists of stores and corporations that do not say "Merry Christmas" but "Seasons Greetings," in order to decry the ever-nebulous "secularization" of America.

As Christians, sadly, we are no more immune from this "spirit of the age" than anyone else. This is why our congregation has followed the traditional practice of celebrating the Christian season of Advent. Advent, from the Latin word adventus, means, arrival, or, coming. These are the four Lord’s Days prior to Christmas in which the Church celebrates the mystery of the Lord’s coming into the world.

Historical Origins
Unlike Easter, scholars have not been able to determine with any degree of certainty when Advent began in the Church. Since the Christian feast day of Christmas, or, the Nativity of Our Lord, has no evidence before the end of the fourth century, it is of late origin.

The earliest evidence of a period of preparation for Christmas in the western Church is from the Synod of Saragossa in 380, whose fourth canon prescribes that from the seventeenth of December to the feast of the Epiphany no one should be permitted to absent himself from church. The collection of homilies of St. Gregory the Great (590–604) begins with a sermon for the second Sunday of Advent. In the Eastern, Greek-speaking Church, we find no documents for the observance of Advent earlier than the eighth century.

Not Holy but Helpful
It is important for us to remember that these Sundays are no more special or holy than any others. After all, the Lord’s Day is the only holy day God has set apart for his New Covenant Church. We do not celebrate these days as in Roman Catholic theology, in which Advent is a time of penance to worthily celebrate Christmas, to make the soul a fit abode for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion, and to be ready for the Lord’s final coming. This season’s somber note in Roman Catholicism is seen in the fact that In the Te Deum and the Gloria in excelsis, ancient hymns of praise, are not used in worship. Even marriage is forbidden.

Yet, because we can be swept up into consumerism it is helpful for us to pause and mediate during this time of year precisely why we even our culture celebrates Christmas—the coming of the eternal Son of God into our human flesh.

The Manner of Celebration
During Advent we are exhorted to profit from its celebration not in a dry, formal manner, but in participation and anticipation.

First, we join the patriarchs and prophets in participation, looking back upon the coming of our Lord in the flesh. Here we enter into their experience of longing for his coming as we sing the Psalms but also the great Advent hymns of the Church.

Second, we join the historic Christian Church in all times and in all places in anticipation, awaiting his coming again as we cry out, maranatha, our Lord come!

Thus Advent is a time for us to "redeem the time" (Eph. 5:16, KJV) in which we live and remember that our Lord has come and that he is coming again. It is a time for us to celebrate our redemption, to participate in it through Word and Sacrament, and to catechize our children in the mysteries of the Faith into which they were baptized.

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The Thanksgiving Liturgy

Minister—Normal words | Congregation—Bold words  |  *–Stand if able

Rev. Danny Hyde, Preaching

Call to Worship                  Psalm 111:1-5

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.

*Exhortation to Thanksgiving

Dearly beloved, we have gathered together on this day of thanksgiving. Although our civil government has set aside this day as a National Thanksgiving Day, the roots of services of prayer and thanksgiving are as old as the Reformation itself. Our forefathers set aside days of celebration, thanksgiving, prayer, and reflection upon the goodness of God to us. As the Westminster Confession of Faith says, “. . . thanksgivings upon special occasions . . . are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner” (21.5). This morning we follow that venerable tradition in order to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at the Lord’s hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart, and humble voice, unto the throne of heavenly grace:

*Prayer for the National Thanksgiving Day         Proposed for the New Psalter Hymnal

Our Sovereign God, who created all things for your pleasure and who gives to all life, breath, and every good thing, we praise you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. For rain and sunshine, in abundance and in lack, we acknowledge that our times are in your hands. You supply all of your creatures with your good gifts: the just and the unjust alike. Nevertheless, we especially give you praise for the surpassing greatness of your saving grace that you have shown to us in Christ Jesus our Savior. For our election in him before the foundation of the world; for our redemption by him in his life, death, and resurrection; for our effectual calling, justification, sanctification, and all of the blessings of our union with him, we give you our heartfelt thanks. And we look with great anticipation toward that day when you will raise us to life everlasting, glorified and confirmed in righteousness, so that we may sing your praises without the defilement of our present weaknesses, distractions, and sins. As you have served us with these gifts, we ask that you would give us grateful hearts so that through us you may serve our neighbors. In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying,

Our Father, who art in heaven: Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

*Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah         Psalter Hymnal 304

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Our Father, we enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise through Jesus Christ, your only-begotten Son, our Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we come, we bring to you the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips that confess your name.

We give you thanks for your vast and beautiful creation. The heavens declare your glory and so we say, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

We thank you for your providential care of your creation, especially over us. You know the number of hairs upon our heads, you know the number of our days, you provide for us even as you provide for the sparrow.

Most especially, Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for your inexpressible gift, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the thankful one, who offered up his entire life of obedience unto you as a sacrifice on behalf of our disobedience, himself on the cross for our sins. We thank you that by his resurrection we have new life and are now your children by adoption, crying out unto you, Abba, Father. We thank you for the gift of the Spirit of Christ, whom he poured out upon the Church at his ascension, baptizing us into Christ, applying so powerfully, yet so gently, the benefits of Christ, and setting us apart as your peculiar people who proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We thank you for the entirety of our salvation, crying out, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies and who has caused us to be born again to a living hope. We thank you for incorporating us into Christ and also his Church, the people of God, the kingdom of our Lord. Grant to us hearts of gratitude in order to exercise our gifts for the upbuilding of our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ and to serve you in every way.

We thank you for this congregation and all the blessings you have bestowed upon us this past year […]. We beseech you to unite us continually in true faith, firm hope, and ardent love. We give you thanks for the means of grace, the preaching of the Gospel and the celebration of the holy sacraments. You so lavishly send upon us the bread of heaven, for man does not live by bread alone, in order to nourish our souls unto everlasting life. Oh Father, you are good, and your goodness endures forever. We offer up these thanksgivings along with all those within our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit, one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, lives and reigns forever.

Amen.

*What Shall I Render to the Lord         Psalter Hymnal 230

Old Testament Reading         Psalm 136 (English Standard Version)

Gloria Patri         Psalter Hymnal 492

New Testament Lesson         Ephesians 1:15–21 (English Standard Version)

Give Thanks

A General Thanksgiving

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, you unworthy servants, do give you most humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us, and to all men. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for your inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech you, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be sincerely thankful; and that we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

Offering Benevolence Fund

Offertory Thanksgiving         Adapted from the Book of Common Worship, 1906

O most merciful and gracious God, from whose open hand we all have received much: We ask you to accept this offering of your people. Remember in your love those who have brought it. Remember also those persons and purposes for which it is given. So follow this sacrifice with your blessing that it may promote peace and good will, and advance the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Amen!

*Now Thank We All Our God      Psalter Hymnal 316

*Benediction      2 Corinthians 13:14

Beloved, go forth in thanksgiving as you receive the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Amen!

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