“Our world is captivated (even captured) by time. We live endlessly scheduled lives, with every minute demanded, committed, and accounted for. It seems a modern phenomenon, but the church has always wrestled to tell time from a different vantage point, remaking the calendar in Jesus’ image, ordering its days around the life and ministry of our Lord.
The essays in Telling Time in Church consider the major feasts and fasts of the church through the ages, letting ancient witnesses speak afresh to us in a world maddened by time. The series now features a downloadable schedule and guide that provides specific dates for the next three calendar years, relevant Scripture passages, and a key thought for meditation. While the series begins with the ancient church’s new year (September 1), one great beauty of the calendar is that you can begin today, stepping into Jesus’ life and accepting his invitation to reorient yours.”
In this final essay in the series, Jamie Cain provides a marvelous essay to help us enter into the season of Advent. It is titled: To Enlighten the World: The Feast of the Nativity, or Christmas.
As we await the fullness of the reign of God, we offer a series of four weekly Advent meditations to help us lean into the present availability of Emmanuel, the long-expected Jesus. These four meditations are centered around Isaiah’s foretelling of Messiah Jesus as our Wonderful Counselor (week one), Mighty God (week two), Everlasting Father (week three), and Prince of Peace (week four). We pray that these meditations will be used by the Spirit of the Lord to open you more deeply to his strength and consolation.