Advent is a word that means "coming" or "visit". In the Christian season of Advent we prepare for the "advent" of Christ at Christmas. Our preparation includes many things:
• We remember Israel's hope for the coming of God's Messiah to save, to forgive, and to restore them.
• We remember our hope for the second coming of Jesus.
• We remember our need for a Savior to save us from our sins.
• We prepare to welcome Christ at Christmas into our world . . . and into our hearts.
By lighting one candle each week of Advent, we help ourselves to get ready for the birth of Jesus. The candles have different meanings, each based upon the Bible. These meanings help us to understand how special the birth of Jesus is for us.
Today we focus on the coming of Christ as our Shepherd.
Prayer for God's Help[This prayer can be read, or simply used as a model.]
Dear God, thank you for this season of Advent that helps us to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas. As we read the Bible and light a candle, may excitement for Christ's coming burn in our hearts. Amen.
Scripture Readings[Parents, you may wish to abbreviate or eliminate certain readings depending on the age(s) of your child(ren). You may also want to read these selections out of a Children's Bible.]
In this Psalm we join the people of Israel as they invite God their Shepherd to save and to restore them.
This passage looks ahead to the coming of the Lord, who will care for his people like a shepherd.
Lighting of the CandleLike God's people before the coming of Christ, we also look ahead to the time when Christ, who is both the Lamb and our Shepherd, will finish his work and "God will wipe away every tear" from our eyes.
[As someone lights the first purple candle, the following should be read or paraphrased. If you're doing this online, in order to "light" the next Advent candle, click on the wick of the purple candles until you "light" the right one.]
We light this candle because, like God's people centuries ago, we also look forward with hope to the coming of the Shepherd. The purple color of the candle reminds us of the seriousness of our hope.
Prayer of Hope
[To be read or paraphrased.]
Dear God, as we light this candle, we hope for your coming as our Good Shepherd. Please gather us in your arms, feed us with spiritual food, wipe away every tear from our eyes, and "let your face shine, that we may be saved". Come, our Shepherd! Amen.
Closing Song
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I guess after studying the aftereffects of these man-made creeds in my Master's program, I very reluctant to accept to any of them. Most of the creeds were the religious rational for inflicting pain and suffering on those who did not follow the "creed" by those who did. To me the fruit of the tree was not healthy.
The Jesus Creed however is a creed of love...love of God and neighbor...even and especially "Samartian" neighbors. I guess to me, adherence to the term and ideas of "orthodoxy" (especially with all of its bloody religious baggage) and adherence to the Jesus Creed are antithetical.
Leigh Anne, allow me to come back to you. Do you think it is fair to say the creeds were "religious rationale for inflicting pain and suffering"? That's what they were about?
Why do you think the Church has always maintained that God is a Trinity?
One more: when you read the Apostles' Creed, what lines do you really disagree with?
When the Nicene Creed was created, it was not about love, it was about power. Constatine wanted and easier rule of Rome, and could not do it as well as long as the bishops were bickering over the nature of Christ. As soon as the creed was created, he began the systematic slaughter of the Arians who disagreed with it and only stopped when killing unarmed people who would not defend themselves began to gnaw at him. But all done in love I am sure.
Martin Luther, while citing his belief in the Apostles Creed ordered the burning of Jewish Synagogues and demeaning of the Jewish people. Once again, filled with love I am sure.
So, what do I disagree about in the creeds? IN their use. Their use has proved to be divisive and sometimes deadly. If the fruit of the tree is bad...then what was said about the tree? So my question back would be why do we need a creed other than the one promoted by Jesus himself, to love God (God isn't even deeply defined here, is left open to some very interesting Jewish debate that continues today) and our neighbor? The purpose of any other man-made creed would be what? To sift out who agrees with us and who doesn't...and what then?
Leigh Anne,
The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds are simply concise summaries of the beliefs about God held by the majority of Christians. They were useful when created to teach the many who could not read, but might memorize this brief statement. They are useful now to clear away the denominational clutter and focus on the central beliefs of Christianity. They are man-made only in the sense of being compiled by men from the truths presented about the triune God in the Bible. (God created the heavens and earth, Jesus was born of a virgin, Jesus died and rose again, etc.)
It is unfortunate if these statements of belief were used for evil in the past. There will always be people who take their worldview (belief system)and use it for their own purposes. Radical Muslims use their faith to justify killing people, sometimes people of their own faith. Hindus and Sikhs kill each other in Asia. People purportedly seeking justice for the oppressed of the developing world use that as an excuse to riot at summit meetings of world leaders or the World Bank. (And the rioters damage property of others not in any associated with the perceived problem.) In every case, you need to blame the people not the creed.
You say you disagree with the use of creeds. Most of us use them purely as a statement of our beliefs. Mr. McKnight asked you if there were any specific lines of either Christian creed that you disagreed with. I would also ask if you can find any part that is inconsistant with the Bible.
The Nicene and Apostle's Creeds have parts that are inconsistent with many scriptures....but they also have scriptures that back them up. That is the point, that God is not limited by our "creedal understandings" of God." My denomination is trinitarian, but there are many that are not.....and yet are disciples of Jesus. And I respect them as such...even though they may not follow the "Nicenen Creed"
Here are a couple of links to describe them, the first even lists many scriptural references for their faith.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Trinitarian_churches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarianism
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