The Divinely inspired St. Luke’s Gospel account seems to focus the story of Jesus’s birth on “two insignificant women to whom sons are born in miraculous fashion” (Mark Schuler, Called by the Gospel [Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2007], 59). This year as Pilgrim Lutheran Church observes the season of Advent, which season begins the new Church Year, in our midweek services we hear St. Luke’s narrative and realize that both of these miraculous births are for our benefit. For, the first one born miraculously prepares the way of the Lord, giving to His people knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of their sins, that they may worship the Lord without fear (Luke 1:76-77, 74). The Second One born is the Lord, Who miraculously brings to earth peace with God among those of His good will (Luke 1:32; 2:14), but more about that at Christmas!
Advent is a season of preparing for Christmas. You may recall that our English word “Advent” derives from the Latin verb that means “come to”. In Advent, three “comings” of our Lord are variously in view: (1) His coming at His birth more than 2,000 years ago, (2) His coming to us now in His Word and Sacraments, and (3) His coming a final time in glory to judge the living and the dead. Our Advent hymns, Scripture Readings, and the like present those three “comings”—past, present, and future—in an almost bewildering fashion. The same sentence might present one, two, or all three “comings” without order or distinction. Yet, our remembering His past coming serves our preparing for and recognizing both His present coming and His future coming.
Although preparing for the Christmas season can bring us joy, Advent is intended to be a penitential season of preparation for the celebration of The Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas, just as the more severely penitential season of Lent precedes the celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter. For the season of Advent (and for Advent alone), the colored cloths (paraments) that adorn the furniture in the church (the chancel furnishings) are blue. Blue is a color of hope and expectation, often associated with the Virgin Mary and her festivals, but, as we use it, the color is also associated with penitence, yet it is distinct from the deeper color purple, which is used during Lent (and during Lent alone here at Pilgrim, though some congregations use purple for both penitential seasons).
The liturgical and calendar dates for the Sundays this Advent, along with descriptions and citations of their appointed Gospel Readings, follow below (according to Lutheran Service Book’s 3 year Series B, which you might note draws primarily from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark).
- First Sunday in Advent (11/30): Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph
(Mark 11:1-10) - Second Sunday in Advent (12/07): Jesus is proclaimed by John the Baptizer
(Mark 1:1-8) - Third Sunday in Advent (12/14): Jesus is the focus of the Baptizer’s testimony
(John 1:6-8, 19-28) - Fourth Sunday of Advent (12/21): Jesus’s birth is announced to Mary
(Luke 1:26-38)
Every Sunday this Advent (and all of the Sundays of the 2014-2015 Church Year when Pastor Galler is present), Pilgrim is continuing to offer a full Divine Service with the Sacrament of the Altar. This Church Year we are following the liturgy of Lutheran Service Book’s Divine Service, Setting Three (essentially the same liturgy that the congregation used two years ago as Lutheran Worship’s Divine Service I and which many know from The Lutheran Hymnal pages 15 and following), which reflect some changes for the penitential season of Advent.
As has been our custom the previous three years, we also are continuing to offer Midweek Advent Vespers services on Wednesday nights at 7:00 p.m., this year we again use the Order of Vespers as found in Lutheran Service Book. Because of where Christmas falls in the week, we again this year will have only three midweek services, during which we will focus on the events leading up to Jesus’s birth as narrated in the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke.
- Advent I (12/03): John the Baptizer’s birth foretold (Luke 1:5-25)
- Advent II (12/10): Jesus’s birth foretold (Luke 1:26-45)
- Advent III (12/17): John the Baptizer’s birth (Luke 1:57-80)
Our Midweek Advent Vespers services are each preceded by a congregational meal at 6:00 p.m.
All are invited to eat and worship! If you cannot listen in person, you can read and hear sermons preached at Pilgrim during Advent and any other time of the Church Year here.
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