Emmanuel Shall Come

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is the day in the Church Year, every year, when we get the privilege of adding our voices to the ancient choirs who sing throughout the ages the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” We sing the haunting melody and the words of the supplications to the God who is coming to us. So let us take a moment to consider the supplications we offer:

Come and teach us the way of prudence.
Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.
Come quickly to deliver us.
Come and rescue the prisoners who
     are in darkness and the shadow of death.
Come and enlighten those who sit
     in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Come and save us all, whom You formed out of clay.
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

God Has A Mom

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It is fitting that we should pause in our Lenten observance, these nine months before Christmas, and contemplate the joy of our Lord’s Annunciation. For it is God’s good and gracious will that those who are humbled and fatigued by the grief of penitence and who mourn deeply for their sins, might be consoled by the Word and promise of God whose Son, born of Mary, takes away the sins of the world.

The angel sent from God comforted Mary with these words: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”

He promised more than a Son to the Virgin. In this, he also promised pardon to the guilty, redemption to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound. He announced the Kingdom of the Son and in that Kingdom the glory of the righteous and the reward of faith. The Name Jesus – The Lord who saves – is the terror of Hell and the joy of Heaven.

Rejoice, O Highly Favored One!

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we are gathered to confess and adore a sacred mystery. We are gathered to bow our knees and lift up our hearts at the Name of the Lord who did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but took up residence in the flesh of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We bow the knee in humble confession that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God before all worlds, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man. God is made man. The King of the Universe inhabits the womb of a virgin.

Rejoice and sing, o you faithful people! God has deigned to dwell with His creation. He has descended to earth and taken up human flesh and blood in the womb of a virgin, just as He foretold by the prophets of old. Rejoice and sing for joy that the Lord who is and who was and who is to come, the Living One, has received life from the flesh of Mary. Blessed is she who is found worthy to be called the Mother of God! And more blessed is the fruit of Her womb, Jesus!

"We Praise Thee; We Bless Thee!"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. (Psalm 103:1-2)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:3)

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. (Luke 1:68)

Thus begin each of our lessons this evening, with ascriptions of blessing and praise to the Lord God. But what does it mean to bless, and how and why do we bless God?

First, consider who is blessed. The Holy Scriptures declare that God alone is truly blessed, just as He alone is truly good, truly holy, and truly righteous. He alone is blessed, and He remains so without respect to you or to anything in all creation. Just as God's Name is certainly holy in itself, so also is He blessed in Himself. He does not rely on your favor or your blessing to be so, for this is who God is.

The Lord God alone, being the eternally Blessed One, is the one and only source of all blessing. For He is the Lord of Hosts, the creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. He is the king of the universe. Without Him was nothing made, and in Him all things live and move and have their being. To Him do you cry out, and He alone answers.

An (In)Convenient Truth

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A number of years ago, Al Gore released his book, An Inconvenient Truth, a supposed bombshell about climate change and the need for reform in our energy consumption. Regardless of what you think of the book, Al Gore, or climate change, he did hit upon a curious, but helpful way of speaking about the truth.

Often, the truth of a matter is inconvenient. It is unhandy to confront reality in many circumstances. To confront the facts means that you must do something about them. You must change. You must account for your own behavior with regard to them. It is especially inconvenient when the facts of the matter are something you do not want to hear, when they force changes you do not want to make.

Such is the person and work of St. John the Baptist. Even from his very beginning, John was inconvenient to those around him. His conception was announced by the angel Gabriel in such a manner that his father Zechariah doubted the angel's word, and for such was rendered mute for the next nine months. Rather than following social norms, the foretold child received the name John, as was instructed by the angel.

“My Lord and My God”

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today, we celebrate a curious occurrence in the Church's calendar. Because of the intersection of the solar calendar with the date of Easter, we celebrate the Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary right alongside the resurrection of our Lord and His appearance to His disciples. While it may seem strange, it is also peculiarly fitting that we consider the beginning and the end of our Lord's work among us.

How does the story begin? In Luke, chapter one, the angel Gabriel appears suddenly to the Virgin Mary and speaks to her, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” The archangel speaks to her and proclaims to this blushing young maiden that she is with child and will bear the Son of God, the savior of the nations. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

"How Can This Be?"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes there are things that make you stop, cock your head, and say “Huh?” Maybe it is a situation that you do not understand. What is going on is beyond your ken, and so you stand, mystified and silent. Or perhaps it is that something so glaringly ridiculous happens that you are caught in your tracks. You look, furrow your brow, and wonder what in the world brought this on. We have all experienced these “Huh?” moments.

Today's Gospel lesson is perhaps one of the biggest “Huh?” moments in all of history. But before Mary, there was one such moment even longer ago. In the Garden, Eve was tempted to ask, “How can this be?” As she was left alone in the midst of the Garden, she came face-to-face with the tree whose fruit was the only thing forbidden to man. The serpent whispers in her ear, “How can this be?” How can it be that the Lord God would put this here, then forbid you eating it, upon pain of death? The Lord wants to give us all good things, so why would He keep this beautiful gift from us? How can it be that simply eating a piece of fruit will kill me?