And so…

…with the setting of the sun today, holy Advent-tide arrives. I always have thought that the collect for this first Sunday of Advent captures our need for this fast (which the world around us seems quite determined to seduce us into ignoring): Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy power and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. It is because we are always forgetting that our sins, our very personal rebellions, are threatening and perilous, that we need the arrival of St. John the Baptist. The preface from TLH for this season: “whose way John the Baptist prepared, proclaiming Him the Messiah, the very Lamb of God, and calling sinners to repentance that they might escape from the wrath to be revealed when He cometh again.” O Lord, during these holy days through the preaching and meditation on Your Word awaken us all to the dangers of our disregard of You and Your will and Your commandments. Give us lives of genuine repentance, heeding the warning of St. John, and help us always to be ready for Your Son’s Advent; we ask it in His holy name. Amen!