Collect: Proper 29 (and The Third Week of the Seven Week Advent)

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-behaved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords:  Mercifully grant that the people of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen

Jeremiah 23:1-6 . . . the Lord denounces the rulers who have so poorly shepherded the people of Israel.  God will gather the flock together and give them new shepherd, especially a just ruler in the line to David.

Luke 1:68-79 (Song of Zechariah) . . . the child will be called the prophet of the Most-High and will make a way to the Lord

Colossians 1;11-20 . . . Paul prays that the Colossians may be strengthened to meet whatever is to come, and he praises the Son as the visible likeness of the invisible God, through whom all things were created.  He is the head of his body, the church, and the source of its life.

 Luke 23:33-43 . . . Jesus, as he hangs upon the cross, is mocked as the Christ and the King of the Jews.  To a thief crucified with him he promises Paradise.

Sermon by Kristin Adkins Whitesides

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Heaven helps those who help themselves,” says Rev. Dr. Kristin Adkins Whitesides, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Winchester, Virginia. The self-help industry is worth about $10 billion according to market researchers. But today, on Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday, Whitesides preaches on Luke 23:33-43, giving Christians a different view of how we can be saved, and it is not through “self-help.”

 . . .  or The Second Week of the Seven-week Advent

Collects:

Proper 28

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen

Second Week of the Seven-week Advent

O Lord our God, you gave your law that righteousness might abound: Put  it into our hearts to love justice for others as much as we desire it for ourselves \, that, as we know you to be our judge, so we may welcome your reign as it is manifested through Jesus Christ our savior, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise forever and ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 65:17-25 . . . a blessed time when God will overcome many of life’s shortcomings and frustrations

Canticle, First song of Isaiah . . . the vindication of those who have placed their confidence in the Lord God

2 Thessalonians 3;6-13 . . . Paul deals with the problem of those who are so expectant that the Lord will come soon and are so meddlesome in the affairs of others that they have given up their daily work.

Luke 21: 5-19 . . . the disciples are forewarned of the destruction of the Jewish temple and of great upheavals in the natural and supernatural order that must take place before the end of history.

The Sermon

Imagine being called into your boss’s office and being told that you’re just not cut out for your position, the one you had dreamed about as a child. Michael Renninger pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Richmond, Virginia tells of how he was called into the priest’s office at his monastery and told that he would never be a priest because he “did not have what it takes.” Renninger says, “my world collapsed around me.” He gives us a personal take on Luke 21:5-19, Jesus’s prediction of the destruction of the temple. Listen as he preaches on how painful endings are not the end and how this passage challenges us to look at the world differently.

. . . or the First  Sunday of the Seven-week Advent

Collect: Proper 27

O God, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might  destroy the works of the devil and make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life:  Grant us , we beseech thee, that having this hope, we may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end.  Amen

-Or-

Collect: Prayer for the First Sunday of the Seven-week Advent

Eternal God, your Word of wisdom goes forth and does not return empty: Grant us such knowledge and love of you that we may percieve your presence and all creation and every creature; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, now and forever. Amen.

Haggai 1:15-2:9 . . . Haggai summons Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua, the high priest, to attend to the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem, laid to waste some fifty years earlier.

Psalm 145:1-15, 17-21 . . . Praise to the Lord, who is mighty in deeds yet tender and compassionate

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 . . . a correction to a misunderstanding about the day of the Lord,” which some in the early Christian community feared had already arrived

Luke 20:27-38 . . . the Sadducees ask a question about the resurrection.  Jesus replies that resurrection means a different existence from earthly life, and that it depends on a God who has a personal and living relationship with all people

Sermon

Ryan Ahlgrim, Pastor of First Mennonite Church in Richmond, Virginia,  asks, “Is it either you trust in life after death or you’re committed to living out God’s reign now on Earth?” In his sermon, Ahlgrim shows us that “these two things that we trust in and do are intimately connected with each other.” Listen as he explains the relationship between these two priorities and how it affects our lives as believers.