Wisdom Dwells With Us: Advent III/Ember Saturday, 20 December

 

Advent III / Ember Saturday in Advent

Hymn: Ode 13 / Benedictus (BCP Pg. 14)

Psalm 104 (Pg. 11-13)

OT Malachi 3:1-6

Magnificat / Song of Mary (Pg. 26)

NT Heb. 4:14-5:10

Psalm 103 (Pg 29)

Collects: Advent III (Pg. 93), Ember Saturday (Red BCP Pg. 330-332 Second, Third, Fourth Collects)

Lesson from Advent III in Devotional.

Pericopes for discussion:

• Baruch 3:26-4:3
• John 1:1-18

Discussion Emphases:

• Four Hundred Years of Prophecy: Baruch to John
• The Benedictus defies the four-year-silence theory, which Anglicans sing & pray every morning prayer. ("Your prophets which have been since the world began")
• God's icons walking in the Garden
• Christ forms Adam in His image as a living icon to defy pagan idols, which were spiritless / dead images of pretender gods.
• Christ walks in Paradise: Incarnate in eternity, always envisioned as coming to dwell with humanity in the presence of God.
• Christ the Giantkiller
• Undoing the devil's defiance in the Garden.
• Giants / Nephilim are the inversion of Christ's incarnation, born from unholy mingling of wicked spirits and wicked women to birth wicked 'divine kings' (false "Eves" who birthed false christs/antichrists).
• Christ as Wisdom-made-Flesh
• Prophet Baruch & Apostle John share the same vision of Christ coming to earth to converse with men as the Word of God.