Third Week of Advent – Affirmation
December 17 – 23, 2023
In anticipation of the Lord’s soon return, believers everywhere are called to “wake from sleep.” Because our salvation is nearer
to us today than when we first believed, we affirm that the day
of Christ’s glorious coming is close at hand, and the night of
sin and sadness is on its way out forever. In light of this certain
prospect, we are to cast off the works of darkness, putting on
God’s armor of light, and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let
us make no room for fleshly desire or practice, not gratifying
our flesh but seeking to please the Lord in all things. The Lord
is coming soon; let us do all we can to live resonant with that
belief. The day of our deliverance is near!
We invite you to follow our weekly Advent devotions.
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Sunday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
God the Son was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human.
Monday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
All generations will call Mary “blessed.”
Tuesday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
Mary deserves a place among Scripture’s greatest heroes.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
Mary’s prayer has been prayed every evening by millions of Christians across the centuries.
Thursday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
Mary displays the richness of her understanding of the Hebrew Bible.
Friday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
The Magnificat is a song of great relief, both for Mary personally and for all God’s people.
Saturday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
Let us magnify the Lord and rejoice in God our Savior!
Time for Reflection
“Worship in the New Testament is a comprehensive category describing the Christian’s total existence. It is coextensive with the faith-response wherever and whenever that response is elicited. Consequently, ‘our traditional understanding of worship as restricted to the cultic gathering of the congregation at a designated time and place for rite and proclamation will no longer do. This is not what the New Testament means by worship.’”
~ David G. Peterson, Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992. pp. 18-19
Benediction
Lord God, heavenly Father, You created Adam in Your image and gave him Eve as his helpmate, and after their fall into sin, You promised them a Savior who would crush the devil’s might. By Your mercy, number us among those who have come out of the great tribulation with the seal of the living God on our foreheads and whose robes have been made white in the blood of the Lamb; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
~ Lutheran Service Book, Treasury of Daily Prayer. In Scott R Murray. A Year with the Church Fathers: Meditations for Each Day of the Church Year. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2011. p. 393.