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St
Alban’s (Grand Cayman) & St Mary’s (Cayman Brac) | |
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6
December 2009 Welcome
to
St
Alban's Anglican Church
Today's Scripture: Malachi 3:1-4 Philippians 1: 3-11 S. Luke 3: 1-6 Today:
8.35 a.m. Matins; 9.00 a.m. Church School; 9.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist;
6.00 p.m. EP. This
Week: Tues – Fri: 12.30 pm Midday Prayers.
2nd
Sunday in Advent
Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
FAITH IN FOCUS: TWO REASONS TO HOPE When
God first agreed to be our ancestors’ God, by signing the
covenant, he said it would be based on two things: “hesed and
emeth”. These two Hebrew words mean “steadfast love and
faithfulness”. Our ancestors didn’t take long to break their
side of the agreement. They soon forgot that their “special
relationship” with God depended on how they behaved, how they
responded to God’s favour by the way they treated him and other
people. So
you might think that God would have torn up the covenant and
declared it null and void. But God remembered his part of the
bargain, those two things: steadfast love and faithfulness. God
never stopped being loving and faithful, whatever his people got up
to. No matter how far people strayed, God remained steadfast and
faithful. This dual characteristic of God, steadfastness and
faithfulness, is the reason why Christians trust God. It is the
basis of Christian hope. God
is coming to set things right. Advent looks forward to the
fulfilment of the promises that God has made to us. But Christian
hope is not merely about the future. It affects how we live our
lives today, because the seeds of the future are based on my
relationships here and now. Hope shines a new light on this reality.
It’s a dynamic gift that stops us from closing in on ourselves and
instead spurs us on to new beginnings, to new challenges and to new
life. We live by faith; we continue through charity; we flourish in
hope. The
hope we entertain is not simply an optimism that Jesus will return
at the end of time, but is a conviction that here and now he can
come into our lives as Messiah and can set us right, and free from
whatever weighs us down. And come he will if we invite him. For he
is steadfast and faithful.
WORD
OF GOD It
is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge
and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so
be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. (1 Thess 1: 9-10) WORD
FOR TODAY Although
Christmas is still a way off yet, today’s liturgy whets our appetite
by hinting at a let-up in the daily grind of life, at a promise of
glory and at an eternal reward for those who trust in the Messiah who
is about to come.
ADVENT
HOPE can be hard work. It is what one person has called “a long
obedience in the same direction”, and whilst Advent hope is about
God’s big purposes with the world - salvation and the coming kingdom
- it all comes down to earth when it is expressed in the basic things
of life to do with our family, our work, our health, our everyday
hopes and fears. (Rosalind Brown) THIS
WEEK’S BIBLE READINGS Mon: Isaiah 30: 1–18, Matt 14: 1–12, 1 Thess 1 Tues: Isa 30: 19-end, Matt 14: 13–end, 1 Thess 2: 1-12 Wed: Isa 31, Matt 15: 1-20, 1 Thess 2: 13–end Thurs: Isa 32, Matt 15: 21–28, 1 Thess 3 Fri: Isa 33: 1–22, Matt 15: 29–end, 1 Thess 4: 1–12 Sat : Isa 35, Matt 16: 1-12, 1 Thess 4: 13-end NEXT
SUNDAY :
Zephaniah 3:
14-end, Philippians 4: 4-7, S. Luke 3: 7-18
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