‘Tis The First Sunday of Advent, 2018

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For those who follow the Liturgical Calendar, Advent marks the beginning of the New Year. And Bach most famously observes it:

Psalm 25: 3-9

Show me your ways, O Lord,
and teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
in you have I trusted all the day long.

Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,
for they are from everlasting.

Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
remember me according to your love
and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.

Gracious and upright is the Lord;
therefore he teaches sinners in his way.

He guides the humble in doing right
and teaches his way to the lowly.

All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness
to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Advent is my favorite season. Perhaps it is a child’s anticipation of Christmas that still speaks to my heart.

11 thoughts on “‘Tis The First Sunday of Advent, 2018”

  2. I believe the following verses from the First Letter of John the Apostle sum up the times and this Christmas season:
    1John 2:22-23, “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
    For those of us who hold the Christmas season dear in Emmanuel, we have the comfort of having the Father also Who by His grace sees to our comfort, our peace, and our circumstances as we walk the path He has set before us.
    Sadly, those who deny Jesus Christ as the Son have nothing and are alone in this world in their loneliness and frustration. We should pray for them out of compassion that the Son of righteousness break through their darkness and set them free from their misery.

  3. Absolutely wonderful! Thank you! You put our hearts and minds on what is of eternal value. I love the quiet expectation during Advent season – strong anchor in the midst of the world’s raging seas.

  4. The very first character of the title of this article is a starting single quote mark (which is shaped like a little 6); it should be an apostrophe (which is shaped like a little 9). Because of software-determined “smart quotes”, it is troublesome to start a word with an apostrophe (like the word “’tis”). For a discussion of this apostrophe/starting-single-quote-mark problem, see
    https://signalinc.com/smart-quotes-and-dumb-apostrophes/

  5. Lovely, thanks. Haydn makes me smile, Schubert makes me cry, Beethoven inspires me; Bach is certainty.

  6. We are never give up our culture and way of life , like this traitors politicians wants, Our beautiful continent stay Christian, for our kids and grandkids , thank You Lord , protect Us from this barbaric invasion, from 7th. Century ..

  9. Absolutely sublime. A work of such balance and beauty distinguishes European culture above and beyond all it supposed “rivals”.

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