Advent Favorites: Within Our Grasp (St. Leo the Great)

Originally Posted Thursday, December 8, 2005

Within our grasp

Filed under: Advent Devotionals, Saints & Church Fathers — Karen B.

Invisible in His own nature,
God, in His great love
became visible in ours.

Beyond our grasp
in His great love
He chose to come
within our grasp.

– St. Leo the Great
(1002-1054)

Advent Favorites — Henri Nouwen: Teach Me to Pray

Originally Posted Monday, December 5, 2005

Henri Nouwen — Teach Me to Pray

Filed under: Prayers & Prayer Themes, Advent Devotionals — Karen B.

This prayer by Henri Nouwen was included in an Advent Devotional Guide that Truro Church published a few years ago. It is very appropriate for Advent with its theme on waiting on the Lord, resting in His presence, and asking the Lord to “create new doors” in our lives that we might draw closer to Him.
———–

Teach Me to Pray
Henri Nouwen

Every day I see again that only you can teach me to pray,
only you can set my heart at rest.
Only you can let me dwell in your presence.

No book, no concept or theory will ever bring me close to you
unless you yourself are the one who lets them become the doors to you.

But Lord, let me at least remain open to your initiative.
Let me wait patiently and attentively for the hour when you will come
and break through the walls I have erected.

Create new doors.
Teach me, O Lord, to pray

Advent Favorites — Lord, Let Us Receive Your Clear Light

Originally Posted: Monday, December 20, 2004

Lord, let us receive Your clear light

Filed under: Advent Devotionals — Karen B.

The Word made flesh for us gives us the greatest hope
that the murky night of darkness will not overwhelm us,
but we shall see the daylight of eternity.

Lord, let us receive your clear light; be for us such a mirror of light
that we may be given grace to see you unendingly.

If we are overcome, you have the power to forgive us;
Therefore, in my sin I call on you,my Lord, my Light, for help.
For you were sent into the world to enlighten my heart,
to nurture true repentance and to make the Holy Spirit’s
work grow more powerfully in me.

With the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign for ever!

–Hildegard of Bingen

Advent Favorites — Canon John Heidt: An Advent Meditation

Originally posted: Friday, December 2, 2005

Canon John Heidt: An Advent Meditation

Filed under: Advent Devotionals, Meditations, — Karen B.

Canon Heidt is the Canon Theologian for the Diocese of Fort Worth. This is taken from his blog Transfiguration.
—————-

art credit: web gallery of art. Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Child, 1495. Click here for background on this painting.

An Advent Meditation

By Canon John Heidt

A Virgin conceives and now gives birth
And God becomes a helpless child:
Infinity now in an infant found
And Majesty now on a manger throne
Becomes the site where angels sing.
Where a star leads wise men to a simple inn,
And turns this night into the world’s light.
For in cattle’s crib a child is born,
And the world’s turned upside down.

Another Christmas; the Christ Mass here
Where our labor and joys, the bread and the wine,
Become the flesh and blood of God.
Where souls and bodies offered to Him,
Become His living Body again.
For in us He is reborn today,
As first He was in Mary’s womb.
We are the manger where angels sing,
Simple children that wise men seek,
For On our altars God has come
And the world’s turned upside down.

Humility conquers the world’s pride
And kings pay homage to the servants of God
An Empire crumbles before a saintly man
Tyranny ridiculed by the world’s damned.
Peace conquers war; the poor become rich
The weak become strong and the wronged become right
For a child is born; a son is given
And nothing shall ever be the same again.

————

Graham Kendrick, a worship leader and prolific songwriter from the UK, also echos Canon Heidt’s refrain “nothing shall ever be the same again” in one of his Christmas songs:

So many centuries of watching and waiting
But when the moment came well nobody saw
Traders and travellers hurried by
And life went on just like before
Just like before
In all the clamour just a new baby crying
One more poor family shut out in the cold
Nothing unusual sad to say
Hasn’t it always been this way?

But nothing will ever be the same again
This night has changed everything
Nothing will ever be the same again
Since the night he came

You can read all the words here.
And you can listen to a clip here.

The poem and the song have both got me thinking… What do I need to allow Christ to change in my own life?

Advent Favorites — Will We Be Ready? (Madeleine L’Engle)

Originally published Wednesday, December 8, 2004

Will We be Ready?

Filed under: Advent Devotionals — Karen B.

When will he come
and how will he come
and will there be warnings
and will there be thunders
and rumbling of armies
coming before him
and banners and trumpets?
When will he come
and how will he come
and will we be ready?

Madeleine L’Engle
Advent, 1971

Advent Favorites — John Henry Newman: To Watch with Christ

Originally posted: Wednesday, December 21, 2005

To Watch with Christ: John Henry Newman

Filed under: Advent Devotionals — Karen B.

To watch with Christ
A reading from John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, 19th century

——————————————————————————–

Let us consider this most serious question – What is it to watch with Christ? I consider this word watching a remarkable word; remarkable because the idea is not so obvious as might appear at first sight, and next because our Lord and his disciples inculcate it. We are not simply to believe, but to watch; not simply to love, but to watch; not simply to obey, but to watch; to watch for what? For that great event, Christ’s coming…

Now what is watching?

I conceive it may be explained as follows: Do you know the feeling in matters of this life, of expecting a friend, expecting him to come, and he delays? Do you know what it is to be in unpleasant company, and to wish for the time to pass away, and the hour strike when you may be at liberty? Do you know what it is to be in anxiety lest something should happen which may happen or not, or to be in suspense about some important event, which makes your heart beat when you are reminded of it, and of which you think the first thing in the morning? Do you know what it is to have a friend in a distant country, to expect news of him, to wonder from day to day what he is now doing, and whether he is well? Do you know what it is so to live upon a person who is present with you, that your eyes follow his, that you read his soul, that you see all its changes in his countenance, that you anticipate his wishes, that you smile his smile, and are sad in his sadness, and are downcast when he is vexed, and rejoice in his successes? To watch for Christ is a feeling such as these; as far as feelings of this world are fit to shadow out those of another.

He watches with Christ, who, while he looks on to the future, looks back on the past, and does not so contemplate what his Saviour has purchased for him, as to forget what he has suffered for him. He watches with Christ, who ever commemorates and renews in his own person Christ’s cross and agony, and gladly takes up that mantle of affliction which Christ wore here, and left behind him when he ascended. And hence in the Epistles, as often as the inspired writers show their desire for his second coming, so often do they show their memory of his first, and never lose sight of his crucifixion and in his resurrection.

Source: http://www.rc.net/wcc/advent.htm

Advent Favorites — Lord, Revive Us! (Charles Spurgeon)

Originally Posted: Friday, December 3, 2004

Lord, revive us!
All our help must come from you.
Give to your people your love,
Your confidence,
Your holy daring,
Your consecration,
Your liberality,
Your obedience,
Your holiness.

Walking among the golden candlesticks,
Trim every lamp and make every light,
even those that burn feebly now,
Shine out gloriously through Your Spirit.
– C.H. Spurgeon

Advent Favorites — Luther: Let God Mould Thee

Originally posted: Thursday, December 1, 2005

Wait on God that He Might Mould Us and Fill Us

Filed under: Advent Devotionals, Quotable, Karen B. — Karen B.

Pat Dague, of the Transfigurations blog and I seem to have formed a mutual admiration society. Her blog has become one of my favorites because she consistently turns up wonderful prayers and quotes which have challenged and encouraged me spiritually. Here are two quotes she posted on Nov. 29th which seem very appropriate for Advent.

Eternal Lord, how faint and small
Our greatest, strongest thoughts must seem
To Thee, who overseest all,
And leads us through Life’s shallow stream.

How tangled are our straightest ways;
How dimly flares our brightest star;
How earthbound is our highest praise
To Thee, who sees us as we are.

Our feet are slow where Thine are fast;
Thy kiss of grace meets lips of stone;
And we admit Thy love at last
To hearts that have none of their own.

… Robert MacColl Adams

Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him. In Hebrew, “Be silent in God, and let Him mould thee.” Keep still, and He will mould thee to the right shape.
… Martin Luther

Advent Favorites — I Am Not Worthy (St. John Chrysostom)

Originally Posted: December 6, 2004

Collect: Second Sunday of Advent

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

———-

I am not worthy, Master and Lord,
that you should come
beneath the roof of my soul;
Yet, since you in your love for all people
wish to dwell within me,
in boldness I come before you.

You command “Open the gates!”
Gates you alone have forged;
And you will come in
with love toward all, as is your nature.
You will come in and enlighten my dark reasoning.

I believe you will do this,
for you did not send away
the harlot who came to you with tears,
nor cast out the repenting publican,
nor reject the thief
who acknowledged your kingdom.
You did not forsake the repentant persecutor,
the apostle Paul, even as he was.

But all who came to you in repentance,
you counted in the band of your friends;
You, who alone lives in glory forever,
now and unto the endless ages.

— St. John Chrysostom (347-407)

Another prayer by St. John Chrysostom

Advent Favorites — The Twofold Coming of Christ (Cyril of Jerusalem)

Originally posted: Friday, December 16, 2005

The Twofold Coming of Jesus Christ: Cyril of Jerusalem

Filed under: Advent Devotionals, Saints & Church Fathers — Karen B.

The Twofold Coming of Jesus Christ
from the Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem, 315-386 A.D.

We preach not one coming only of Jesus Christ, but a second also, far more glorious than the first. The first revealed the meaning of his patient endurance; the second brings with it the crown of the divine kingdom.

Generally speaking, everything that concerns our Lord Jesus Christ is twofold. His birth is twofold: one, of God before time began; the other, of the Virgin in the fulness of time. His descent is twofold: one, unperceived like the dew falling on the fleece; the other, before the eyes of all, is yet to happen.

In his first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger. In his second coming he is clothed with light as with a garment. In his first coming he bore the cross, despising its shame; he will come a second time in glory accompanied by the hosts of angels.

It is not enough for us, then, to be content with his first coming; we must wait in hope of his second coming. What we said at his first coming, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”, we shall repeat at his last coming. Running out with the angels to meet the Master we shall cry out in adoration, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’.

The Savior will come not to be judged again but to call to judgment those who called him to judgment. He who was silent when he was first judged, will indict the malefactors who dared to perpetrate the outrage of the cross, and say, ‘These things you did and I was silent’.

He first came in the order of divine providence to teach men by gentle persuasion; but when he comes again they will, whether they wish it or not, be subjected to his kingship.

The prophet Malachi has something to say about each of these comings. ‘The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple’. That is the first coming.

Again, of the second coming he says, ‘And the angel of the covenant whom you seek. Behold, the Lord almighty will come: but who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap; he will sit like a refiners and a purifier’. Paul pointed to the two comings when he wrote to Titus, ‘The grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ’. You see how he has spoken of the first coming, for which he gives thanks, and of the second to which we look forward.

Hence it is that by the faith we profess, which has just been handed on to you, we believe in him ‘who ascended into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; and his kingdom will have no end’.

Our Lord Jesus Christ will, then, come from heaven. He will come in glory at the end of this world on the last day. Then there will be an end to this world, and this created world will be made new.

Source: http://www.rc.net/wcc/advent.htm

Advent Favorites — Bonhoeffer: The Coming of Jesus into Our Midst

Originally posted: Thursday, December 1, 2005

Thanks to one of the very good friends of this blog, the Pietist, (a Lutheran pastor who prays faithfully for all of us in ECUSA!) for posting this wonderful piece by Bonhoeffer on Advent!

The Coming of Jesus into Our Midst
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

When early Christianity spoke of the return of the Lord Jesus, they thought of a great day of judgment. Even though this thought may appear to us to be so unlike Christmas, it is original Christianity and to be taken extremely seriously. When we hear Jesus knocking, our conscience first of all pricks us: Are we rightly prepared? Is our heart capable of becoming God’s dwelling place? Thus Advent becomes a time of self-examination. “Put the desires of your heart in order, O human beings!” (Valentin Thilo), as the old song sings.

“Our whole life is an Advent, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people will be brothers and sisters.”

It is very remarkable that we face the thought that God is coming so calmly, whereas previously peoples trembled at the day of God, whereas the world fell into trembling when Jesus Christ walked over the earth. That is why we find it so strange when we see the marks of God in the world so often together with the marks of human suffering, with the marks of the cross on Golgotha.

We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.

Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. God comes into the very midst of evil and of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us, comes to us with grace and love. God makes us happy as only children can be happy.

God wants to always be with us, wherever we may be – in our sin, in our suffering and death. We are no longer alone; God is with us. We are no longer homeless; a bit of the eternal home itself has moved unto us. Therefore we adults can rejoice deeply within our hearts under the Christmas tree, perhaps much more than the children are able. We know that God’s goodness will once again draw near. We think of all of God’s goodness that came our way last year and sense something of this marvelous home. Jesus comes in judgment and grace: “Behold I stand at the door! Open wide the gates!” (Ps. 24:7)

Read the full text!

I found this brief reflection very challenging because I recognized myself in what Bonhoeffer wrote. I’ve been finding it hard this week to read the sobering passages from Amos and Matthew. How quickly we (or at least I!) want to push away the hard words of coming judgment and jump right to the comfortable news of “glad tidings of great joy” — yes we love the cuddly Baby in the manger, and we even love the battered and abused Christ on the Cross because of all that His death secured for us in terms of cleansing, redemption, salvation… but Jesus the Coming King, the Judge of all the Earth, He who will separate the sheep from the goats… we find much harder to embrace. Do we believe that God’s judgment is good news? Do we believe that God’s judgment is just? I need to continually examine my heart in these matters and let the reminder of coming judgment stir me to greater holiness and devotion, but also to more zealous evangelism and witness of the salvation that is found in Christ.

Advent Favorites — Henri Nouwen – An Advent Prayer

Note: this is the first in a new series of “Advent Favorites” – the best Advent posts from Advent 2004 -2006 from our old blog site. There will be at least 2-3 new Advent Favorites each week. They’ll all be linked in the Advent section of the sidebar, and also the Special Series section. Enjoy and a Blessed Advent to all our readers!

***

Originally posted: Monday, November 28, 2005

Henri Nouwen — An Advent Prayer

Filed under: Advent Devotionals — Karen B.

An Advent Prayer from the late Rev. Henri Nouwen — so appropriate for the beginning of Advent and this season which can be so frantic. May the Lord indeed help us quiet our hearts and listen for His voice each day. May we diligently seek to know His presence, rather than allowing our anxious thoughts to distract us and may He tune our ears to hear His counsel.

Lord Jesus, Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.

We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.

We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.

We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.

We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.

We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

———

Art Credit: Advent and Triumph of Christ (detail), Hans MEMLING, 1480; Oil on wood, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. From the Web Gallery of Art — a fantastic resource. You can read more about this picture here.

Prayer Credit: The only publishing information I have found for this prayer is the following:
Catholic Family Prayer Book, published by Our Sunday Visitor, 2001.

Advent Quotes — Frederick Buechner: “First Sunday of Advent”

First Sunday of Advent

“The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart…The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.”

— Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark, pp. 2,3

(We first posted this on Dec. 4th, 2006 with a hat tip to the “Go to Bethlehem blog” where were first saw it linked.  Image:  Finnish National Orchestra)

Preparing for Advent

Note: Advent 2008 begins tomorrow, November 30. Lent & Beyond will be posting Advent devotionals and links to many online Advent resources. You can find all our Advent entries here.

***

[originally posted 2006]

Excerpted from the Creighton University Praying Advent site (one of my favorite online Advent resources), the following meditation on preparing for Advent was very helpful to me in terms of reminding me to ask the Lord what He is wanting to do in my life this coming Advent — in what ways do I need to see more of the fruit of Salvation in my life. In what areas am I still walking in darkness and need to allow the Lord’s light to break through?

***

We are about to read and pray about the expectant hope of Israel, as expressed through Isaiah. The images we will be using are about darkness and gloom – about thick clouds covering the people – and about hunger and thirst. They are images that attempt to capture a sense of what we feel when we are distant from our God. There are many images about war and conflict. They express the powerlessness and anxiety we experience when we feel vulnerable and defense-less. Most of all, there are images of a future day – a day that can only be called the Lord’s – when all the tears will be wiped away, when there will be plenty to eat and drink, and when there will be no more conflict and no more war. God’s salvation will be made known. God’s victory will be complete.

These are very precious days for us to come into intimate contact with our own need for salvation. It is a time to make friends with our tears, our darkness, our hunger and thirst. What is missing? What eludes my grasp? What name can I give to the “restlessness” in my heart? What is the emptiness I keep trying to “feed” with food, with fantasy, with excitement, with busyness? What is the conflict that is “eating at me”? What is the sinful, unloving, self-centered pattern for which I haven’t asked for forgiveness and healing? Where do I need a peace that the world cannot give?

Coming to know where I need a Savior is how I can prepare for Advent. I am preparing to listen to the promises, listen to these rich texts announcing the liberation I can truly long for. When my heart is open, when my hands are open, when my mouth is open and ready to ask for freedom, healing and peace, then I am ready to begin Advent.

Come, Lord, Jesus. Come and Visit Your People.
We Await Your Coming; Come, O, Lord.

Isaiah 35

The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak,

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water; the abode where jackals lurk will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus. A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it. It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk.

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.

Preparing for Advent — Peter Toon: Stir up our wills, today!

Note: Advent 2008 begins tomorrow, November 30. Lent & Beyond will be posting Advent devotionals and links to many online Advent resources. You can find all our Advent entries here.

***

We originally posted the following entry from the Rev. Dr. Peter Toon back in 2006. Dr. Toon’s words resonate with me as I look ahead to Advent and consider the spiritual disciplines that might be fruitful. As a procrastinator, this post has much to speak to my life

Note: In the traditional lectionary, the collect for the final Sunday before Advent is the following. I love that as a prayer PRIOR to beginning Advent, for all the reasons Peter Toon cites.

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May this coming Advent season be a season of abundant fruitfulness in our lives, churches and ministries.

***

From the Rev. Dr. Peter Toon

Stir up our wills, O LORD — Today please, not in the far distant future!

Have you ever been comfortably seated watching TV, or reading a good book, and yet also been aware of (a) various necessary jobs to be done in the kitchen or elsewhere, and (b) a lack of will power to get up and do what has to be done?

It is common for human beings to experience in their moral and spiritual lives what Luther called in a famous book, “the bondage of the will,” a seeming absence or lack of power to do what is clearly known to be a duty and requirement. In the soul, as it were, there is not always a smooth gear change between what the mind through the conscience declares to be right and what the will alone can set in motion.

The weakness of the will of baptized believers in the Christian life of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ was well recognized by the apostles (see Romans 7-8) and by the bishops and teachers in the Early Church. This is why they called upon all to use the means of grace provided by the Gospel and to pursue sanctification before God. He who knows his own heart well knows that it is prone to lethargy; that it seems always ready to relapse into slumber as if it were satisfied with present attainments in the moral sphere. It needs constantly to be re-charged as it were by heavenly power and prompted to godly action. In fact, at times it needs to be released from servitude to selfish motivation.

Regrettably in much modern forms of Christianity, this truth and practical experience are not taken seriously (because there is such a low doctrine of human sinfulness and a strong belief in the freedom of the will) and it is assumed that people are actually and always free to do what is right if they so wish (see the Catechism or Outline of Faith in the ECUSA 1979 Prayer Book, page 825 for such teaching, which we may call Pelagianism if we want to give it an ancient title.)

The Collect [set prayer] for the last Sunday of the Christian Year in the ancient Gregorian Sacramentary [service book] and in the medieval Sarum Use [service book used in medieval England] and in The Book of Common Prayer (1549 and later editions) took this bondage of the human will to sin for granted as a reality experienced bu the faithful during the past year and prayed for the empowerment of the will by the Holy Spirit for the coming year. In its English form, as translated by Archbishop Cranmer, it prays:

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The will is stirred up whenever by the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit (directly or indirectly through the means of grace) the internal affections of reverence before God, hope in God and love for God are set in motion so as to give strength and motivation to the will. Yet, it remains within our power even when our wills are set in motion not to follow the lead of these (aroused) godly affections; that is, we may resist and avoid their direction. The lethargic will, aroused by grace, can, as it were, turn over on its side and try to back to sleep. When this happens there is regression in the Christian life.

But Christ calls his disciples to follow him, to love God and the neighbor, to fulfill the great commission to evangelize and teach, and thus they ought, as and when aroused, to follow the direction of the Spirit and in his power do whatever duty is set before them, with joy and thanksgiving, bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit in practical Christian living. And a constant duty and vocation is to abound in good works for the benefit of men and the glory of God. [We recall that Dorcas is commended as having been “full of good works and alms-deeds which she did” (Acts 9:36); that Paul declared that we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10) and we are to be “a peculiar people zealous of good works” (Titus 2:4).]

I would not work my soul to save for that my Lord has done;
But I would work like any slave for love of God’s dear Son.

In the new Christian Year about to begin, let us allow the Holy Spirit to stir up our wills and to inspire us to follow His lead into the production of the fruit of the Spirit & into good works to the glory of the Father.