2014 DECEMBER REFLECTION O COME, O COME, IMMANUEL – for the waiting Church! The season of Advent is often a whirl of buying gifts, decorating the tree and a non-stop succession of programs and parties. It was, however, not that way for the Monks of the Middle Ages. In the monastery, Advent was a time of meditation on serious subjects: death, judgment, heaven and hell. And the month in which we think of Christ’s first coming was used by monks to reflect on His second coming. In the same way, this should be true for Christians today. We glance backward to Bethlehem, but we look forward to the Great White Throne, that is, eternity with God, hence the single biggest challenge of the Advent season is to feel our need for a Saviour. In the hymn, O come, O come, Immanuel, the ancient hymnwriter implores Jesus to come and end the Christian’s separation from God (Matthew 13:52). Israel, used three times in the stanzas and each time in the refrain, signifies the waiting Church. While we can experience reconciliation and friendship with God right now, the hymn longs for that perfect, completed fellowship which will be enjoyed in eternity.The hymn is also vital for today’s Christian, who with the seeming obsession for this present world, must be reminded to prepare for the world that is to come. The season of Advent (four weeks to Christmas), a season of waiting, preparation and hope is here again looking forward to Jesus’ promised coming again. We are entering a season of fasting and prayer while the world around us is going mad with buying, feasting, and busyness. When Christians keep a holy Advent they are faithful witnesses to God who became one of us as a poor son of a Galilean girl named Mary and who promises to come again to set the world right. All this is also captured by Charles Wesley in his hymn “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending.” My dear people of God, let us take the theological themes of Advent seriously. The dominant message and point of this season is to help the church engage and prepare the hearts of people, homes and communities for the birth of Christ and his second coming. The challenge is who is the Christ we are preparing to follow? Is he the sweet baby asleep on the hay? Or is he the crucified and risen Lord of the universe who is coming to judge the living and the dead? It is agreed that ‘when the church truncates Advent and reduces it to syrupy, sentimental waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus in your heart it annually misses the one season of the liturgical calendar the focuses on the destination toward which this world is moving.’ In his book Calendar: Christ’s Time for The Church: Laurence Hull Stookey says, “The beginning of the liturgical year takes our thinking to the very end of things. For ‘end’ means not only the ‘end of time,’ but the central purpose or goal of creation. We are not aimlessly wandering in a wilderness, even though we may be tempted to think so. Rather, history is headed somewhere by direction (though not dictation) from God. It is necessary that the liturgical year begin with this focus on a central, holy intention; for otherwise the story of Jesus, which is about to be rehearsed from conception and birth to death and resurrection, may seem less than what it is: the deliberate fulfilling of divine purpose, worked out through historical process. Only this focus on the central purpose of God in history can keep the story of Jesus from falling into the superstitious or almost magical understandings that often afflict the Christian community, on the one hand, or into the trivialization and irrelevance that characterize secular interpretation, on the other hand.” If the chaplaincy is to move forward in 2015 by engaging and participating in God’s mission, then we need to take Advent seriously. A witnessing chaplaincy needs to remember and rehearse annually the goal that is before us: the reign of God on earth as it is in heaven. When we begin the liturgical year focused on the wrong things, it is no wonder where the world find itself today. As we celebrate the first coming of the Expected One – Jesus Christ during Advent, lets also look forward in hopeful anticipation of His second coming. Lets keep in mind the whole picture of who Jesus is, worshipping Him as the fulfillment of all of Gods promises to us, For every one of Gods promises is ‘Yes in Him (2 Corinthians 1:20) Your friend and minister, Deji Okegbile NOTICES: Kindly send your prayer request and if your need counselling our Pastoral Team are available. Pls call- 07939360001/07957348716. The next monthly vigil will hold on Friday 12th December 2014 at Walworth Methodist Church, Camberwell from 10.00pm. The next meeting of the Chaplaincy Women’s Fellowship will hold on Saturday 6th December at Walworth Methodist Church – For more information, please call Mrs Bimbo Okegbile – on +353864017813, 07984904021 Christmas and End of the Year Prayer Rally on Sunday 28th December at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster: Time: 3:00pm. Please come with your prayer request for 2015. Cross-Over Night to 2015 at Rainham Methodist Church, Rainham, RM13 9DE on Wednesday 31st December: Time: 10: 00pm. Please update your monthly subscription. Call the Financial Secretary – 07949845807. Prayer focus: *After the war, the people came to Moses and said .... WE COUNTED, ... NO ONE IS MISSING (Num 31:49). On this 1st day in December, l pray for someone, by December 31st NONE SHALL BE MISSING IN YOUR FAMILY PREMATURELY IN JESUS NAME. *Pray for healing for the sick and lonely around us. *Just as Mary struggled with the announcement of the angel that she would conceive Jesus without human aid of a human father, so Gods people have wrestled from the beginning of time with impossible situations. *I pray for someone, you will celebrate the impossible in Jesus name. *Please pray for all our executive members, patron and matron, and local fellowships. *Pray for the Nigerian and British Methodist churches. *I pray for someone, you will not be an offence to God and His gospel in Jesus name. *Ask God to send His labourers to the chaplaincy for the mighty harvest in UK in 2015. *Pray for unity and oneness of purpose in our mission and vision. *Pray for divine leading and direction in our programmes for the new year 2015. *Pray and cancel every terrorists agenda over UK and Nigeria. BE A PART OF THE CHAPLAINCY AND PLEASE INVITE OTHERS! Wishing you and your family Spirit-filled Christmas and New Year of Aglowing with the Holy Spirit - Your Pastor and friend, Rev Deji and Bimbo Okegbile (Please pass this message to others) Follow us on nigerianmethodists.org
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:48:05 +0000
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