FULL MEASURE 2021 ADVENT CELEBRATION DAY 19

©© by Pastor Jennifer Rousseau Cumberbatch (proprietary)

MODERATOR: Pastor jen Cumberbatch  

Welcome Friends to The Full Measure’s Celebration of Advent 2021

ADVENT CELEBRATION DAY 19, Thursday, December 16, 2021

SCRIPTURE: Philippians 4:4-7

READER: Racquel Bruton

THEME: JOY

CANDLES: Light 2 purple and one pink candles for each reading this Week 3 of Advent. The HOPE Candle from  Week 1 and The PEACE candle for Week 2 and now the JOY Candle for Week 3

Phillipians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Reading 

The Lord is at hand.  The Lord is near.  The Lord will arrive soon. These are the words of the Apostle Paul to the New Testament Church and to The Church in this Age.

In Today’s passage of Scripture for Day 19 of this 2021 Celebration of Advent the Apostle Paul is reiterating to the Church the true meaning of this Advent celebration.  He is saying to the Church.  Christ has Come then, Christ is near and at hand now, and Christ is on his way to return soon and very soon.

It is imperative that we celebrate the Lord not just in this Advent Season every year, but in our hearts everyday.  We make a deliberate decision to acknowledge that God’s Christ has come into the earth. 

It is, as the Christian apologist C.S. Lewis said,  “the most significant event in the history of the earth.”  God sent the expressed image of God’s self in human form to earth to restore the earth to good.  

It happened.  It is not a figment of the imagination.  This arrival of the God-Human is an historically documented fact. 

Christ's life and public ministry are historical.  His teachings are recorded. His deeds were witnessed, as was his crucifixion, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven.

This Christian life is a great mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some things are clear enough: He (Jesus Christ) appeared in a human body, was proved right by the invisible Spirit, was seen by angels. He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples, believed in all over the world, taken up into heavenly glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)

Hallelujah!

Christ has lived. Christ has died. Christ is risenn and Christ will come again.

Advent Christ’s arrival in the earth, then, now and again!

Close your eyes for a moment and use your imagination.

Picture God in heaven, much like in the Genesis description of God making the first earthling, preparing a body for Jesus. 

Oh yes, See God  shaping Jesus first inside, then out; and placing Jesus in  Mary’s womb. See Jesus, the eternal one, who was, and is and is to come, submitting to God’s will to become lower than the angels, of whom he has eternal command.

Grasp that Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Jesus knew he was equal with God. He knew he had equality with God. Therefore, he did not think that being equal with God was something that he had robbed to obtain. It was not robbery to him to be equal with God. But he laid down his deity for us.

Now open your eyes and picture in your mind’s eye this scene God preparing Jesus to take on humanity, beginning in infancy and Christ saying, when he came into the world

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

 but a body you prepared for me;

 with burnt offerings and sin offerings

you were not pleased.

Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.

Picture: (list rapidly)

Gestation in a womb

Birth in an animal stable

Trusting his infant needs to be met by fallible human parents

The trauma of being a refugees

Being baptized by his older cousin

Imagine being driven in the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted have the devil tempt him to worship and sucide  

Imagine Christ choosing his inner circle, knowing one would betray him unto death

See Jesus, turning water to wine and five loaves to 5,000.

Imagine knowing the ultimate plan and purpose of your life, but having to stay connected to God in prayer to know the path step by step.

Imagine the weight of the demands of the people for healings, food, and a now word from the Lord

The anger of having thieves in his father’s house of prayer

The hypocrisy of leaders who were supposed to represent God. 

Followers and Friends who were sometimes faithless

Imagine the abandonment felt, when people left him after he made a statement too hard for them to bear. Or sought God’s miracle more than they sought God’s person and presence.

See Jesus weeping over the widows, only son carried in a coffin. Jesus weeping at the death of his friend, Lazarus, and having Lazarus' sister accuse Jesus “of not being there for her brother.” 

Imagine what it felt like for Jesus to feel his virtuous essence heal a hemorrhaging woman.

Or his saliva mixed with mud bring sight to a blind man

Or his touch to heal a leper

Imagine those same hands nailed to wood.

Imagine slow suffocation.

And burial in a tomb, ascension into hell, resurrection and ascension into heaven. 

The Divine became human, experienced human temptation, joy and suffering, yet never sinned.  

Jesus knows what it is like to be human.  Jesus knows you. 

Now picture Jesus with you in your most joyous occasions and in your most difficult trials. 

Know that Jesus is always near, at hand, as close to you as your next breath.

Jesus has promised never to leave you or forsake you and that he will be with you until the end of the world.  

Jesus knows your sitting down, and your rising up, your going out and your coming in. 

Draw near to Christ and Christ will draw nearer still to you.

Jesus is with you.  Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice, the Lord is near.

Prayer

Lord, we rejoice in Christ our Savior, the one who is with us.  Indeed, if you and your Christ be for us, nothing and no one can stand against us! Thank you, God for your presence in which we find fullness of contentment, satisfaction, rest and pure Joy!  Thank you that your authentic Joy, strengthens us to thrive, even in the most crushing of situations. We love you, God and your Christ, Jesus. We are empowered by your Holy Spirit.  And we celebrate, we revel in you, dear Savior of humanity.  In Christ's name we pray.   Amen!

LIGHT THE CANDLES: Light 2 purple and one pink candles for each reading this Week 3 of Advent. The HOPE Candle from Week 1 and The PEACE candle for Week 2 and now the JOY Candle for Week 3