Emmanuel, God with us

Advent: the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.

Look back and celebrate the first:

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. 

Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.  You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped him...

 And look forward with anticipation to the second:

Oh come, desire of nations, bind into one the hearts of all mankind; oh bid our sad divisions cease, and be yourself our King of Peace. 

Less theatrics, more nourishment

Calvin's opinion on the Eucharist:

For Calvin, the Supper is not a theatrical miracle at which the people of God are spectators, but a living encounter with the glorious person of the ascended Christ; the elements are given not to gaze upon but to consume.

Peter Leithart,  "What's wrong with transubstantiation? An evaluation of theological models." Westminster Theological Journal 53 (1991): p. 318.

 

Whole holiness

The best thing I've ever read on how sanctification works: 

Without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience, there is not mortification of any one perplexing lust to be obtained...He that has a running sore upon him, arising from an ill habit of body, contracted by intemperance and ill diet, let him apply himself with what diligence an skill he can to the cure of his sore, if he leave the general habit of his body under distempers, his labor and travail will be in vain.  So will his attempts...be that shall endeavor to stop a bloody issue of sin and filth in his soul, and is not equally careful of his universal spiritual temperature and constitution.  

-John Owen, Overcoming Sin and Temptation, eds. Kelly M. Kapic, Justin Taylor (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2006), pp. 86-87.

In other words, to grow in holiness we must care for our whole person and pursue spiritual health in every way, rather than spending all of our energy eliminating one or two habitual sins.  

Every Christian, every grace

 You cannot choose which beatitudes you want to be true of your life, and leave the others to one side.  The Beatitudes come as a whole, not as a series of options.  Every Christian is intended to show every grace.  One beatitude flows into the next, as we have already seen:  the poor in spirit mourn for their sins, and as a result are marked by the meekness of those who know the truth about themselves in the presence of God.  Such men and women hunger and thirst for righteousness, and receive it.  Since they have been filled only because of the Lord's mercy to them, they become merciful to others.  

-Sinclair Ferguson, The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World (East Peoria, IL: Banner of Truth, 2009) pp. 35-36.

Upholder and Restorer

Sobering, encouraging, and pastoral words from Augustine, preached on the anniversary of a martyr's death: 

The whole world is against you, and you can say Who is against us?  They answer you: "And what is the whole world, when we are dying for the one by whom the world was made?"

Let them say it, let them say it, let us hear them, let us all say together, If God is for us, who is against us? 

They can rave, they can curse, they can slander, they can hound us with false reproaches, finally they can not merely destroy the body but even reduce it to shreds; and what will the achieve?  For behold, God is my helper, and the Lord is the upholder of my soul (Ps. 54:4).

Tell me, blessed martyr, your body is being torn to shreds, and you can say, "It has nothing to do with me"?

"Yes, I said that."

Why? Tell us why.

"Because the Lord is the upholder of my soul.  My body is restored through my soul..."

But your body is being torn by dogs.

"Even if my body is being torn by dogs, still it is to be raised up by the lord...Seeing that the Lord is the upholder of my soul, he will also be the restorer of my body. What will I be lacking, if the enemy tears my limbs to shreds, since God is numbering my hairs?"

So let us say, let us say out of faith, let us say in hope, let us say with the most ardent charity, If God is for us, who is against us?

[...]

How can you prove it, O glorious martyr, how can you prove to me what you say: If God is for us, who is against us?  It's obvious that if God is for you all, who can be against you?  But prove that God is for you.  

...Here, I'll teach you:  Who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all.  You heard this that follows when the apostle was read.  You see, after saying If God is for us, who is against us, [it is] as though he were told, "Prove that God is for you," straightaway he brought forward a grand document in proof, straightaway he introduced the martyr of martyrs, the witness of witnesses; namely the one whom as his own Son the Father did not spare, but handed him over for us all.

-Augustine, Sermon 334, The Works of St. Augustine.

How has God proven his love for us?  See Romans 5:8.

Louis C.K., smartphones, and the gospel

Check out this video of Louis C.K. telling Conan O'brien what he thinks of smartphones, and why he won't get them for his kids.  In it he makes a couple important points.  First, he mentions how social media and the like inhibit our ability to have compassion or develop empathy for others (he's not alone; also, see: psychopathy).  Also, and just as importantly, he notes its power to distract us from our immediate situations--but he doesn't leave it at that, he tells why that matters:  

You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something.  That's what the phones are taking away, is the ability to just sit there.  That's being a person.  Because underneath everything in your life there's that thing, that empty--forever empty.  That knowledge that its all for nothing and that you're alone.  Its down there. 

And sometimes when things clear away, you're not watching anything, you're in your car and you start going, 'Oh no, here it comes...that I'm alone.'  It starts to visit on you.  Just this sadness.  Life is tremendously sad, just being in it.

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick," said Jesus.

But you've got to know you're sick first.  

Pardon has dawned from the grave

 John Chrysostom on Easter.  It doesn't get much better than this:

If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let them enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival.
If anyone is a grateful servant, let them, rejoicing, enter into the joy of the Lord.
If anyone has wearied themselves in fasting, let them now receive recompense.
If anyone has labored from the first hour, let them today receive the just reward.
If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let them feast.
If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let them have no misgivings; for they shall suffer no loss.
If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let them draw near without hesitation.
If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let them not fear on account of tardiness.
For the master is gracious and receives the last even as the first; he gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first.
He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one He gives, and to the other he is gracious.
Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and, whether first or last, receive your reward.  

O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy!
O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day!
You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today!
The table is rich-laden: feast royally all of you!
The calf is fatted: let no one go forth hungry!

Let all partake of the feast of faith.  Let all receive the riches of goodness.
Let no one lament their poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn their transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free.  

He that was taken by death has annihilated it!
He descended into Hades and took Hades captive!
He embittered it when it tasted His flesh!  And anticipating this, Isaiah exclaimed:
"Hades was embittered when it encountered Thee in the lower regions."

[...]

O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and no one dead remains in a tomb!

For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first-fruits of them that have slept.
To Him be glory and might unto the ages of ages.

Amen.