3rd Advent 2014, Be Still

Simon Marmion

3rd Advent

1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18

We will not leave you in ignorance, dear brothers, about how it is with those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the others who have no hope.

As surely as our heart knows through faith that Jesus broke through death into resurrection, so sure may we also be that God will lead to the same goal those who have fallen asleep united with Christ.

This we announce to you as a word that comes from Christ: we who live, and are preserved as living till the time of the return of the Lord, will have no precedence over those who are asleep.

So will it once be: when the call resounds, the voice of the archangel thunders again, and the trumpets sound which are heard out of the world of the Spirit, then will Christ, our Lord, descend out of the spiritual heights. Then there will be awakened in the spirit first those who have died in Christ. And afterwards we who live and tread paths of earth will be taken up with them into the living world of the spirit, to an encounter with Christ in the realm of the soul. Then shall we be inseparably united with Him, the Risen One. With thoughts of this kind shall you mutually uphold, encourage and strengthen each other.  

  

3rd Advent

December  14, 2014

1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18

Helen Chamberlain

 At every sunset, the light disappears; but though we may fear the dark, we trust that it is only temporary, for we know that the sun will rise again in the morning. Every year we sense the growing darkness as we approach the longest night. And yet in confidence we celebrate the slow return of the Christ-Sun from the greater darkness of the year.

Christ was born on earth a long time ago. He died. Today he is coming to us again. The archangel is announcing His arrival. He is drawing near, and the mighty gates of heaven will open and we will approach Him in spirit-awareness. The light of Christ will be born within us, illuminating us from within.

In the inner and outer darkness of our times, we may feel both besieged and forsaken. Yet we may also cultivate fortitude and bravery in facing our inner and outer demands. Our fortitude and courage in our trials allow us to develop our presence of mind. We stay present; we neither flee nor rage. Rather we hold ourselves still and awake, so that we can remain standing when true spiritual reality breaks in upon us.

In Psalm 46 the Creator says:  “Be still, and know that I am… I will be honored among the nations, I will be honored in the earth.” Christ is the true power within us. Our personality has limited power over outer circumstances; yet outer circumstances have limited power over us. For He, Christ, is the true power in us, because He is our true being on the earth.