On this Tuesday in the third
week of Advent, the appointed Gospel reading for the Church’s daily prayer is
taken from the Passion Narrative of the Gospel according to Luke. As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the
Incarnation, this reading is a good reminder why Jesus came:
Then
they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house.
But Peter was following at a distance. When they had kindled a fire in the middle of
the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the
firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man also was with him.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not
know him.’ A little later
someone else, on seeing him, said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said,
‘Man, I am not!’ Then about
an hour later yet another kept insisting, ‘Surely this man also was with him;
for he is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you
are talking about!’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock
crowed. The Lord turned and
looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to
him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.
Now the
men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; they also
blindfolded him and kept asking him, ‘Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?’
They kept heaping many other
insults on him.
When
day came, the assembly of the elders of the people, both chief priests and
scribes, gathered together, and they brought him to their council. They said,
‘If you are the Messiah, tell us.’ He replied, ‘If I tell you, you
will not believe; and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated
at the right hand of the power of God.’
(Lk. 22: 54-69).
Christmas, the Passion and the
Resurrection are all part of the salvation story. If you look at the traditional Christmas
carols, they start with the birth of Jesus but end on the cross. For example, the
fourth verse of “We Three Kings” is: “Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, breathes
of life of gathering gloom, sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the
stone-cold tomb.” The fifth verse of the
carol celebrates the Risen Christ: “Glorious now behold Him arise King and God and Sacrifice, alleluia, alleluia, earth to heav'n replies.”
As we are in the frenzy
of buying gifts, cooking, baking and going to holiday parties, let us remember
why Christ came. Jesus came so that you
and I might have life, and have it more abundantly.
Let us pray: Lord as we prepare for the coming of your
beloved Son, send your Holy Spirit to inspire our hearts to remember why Christ
came, and may we live our lives in response to your great love. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
Thursday, 20 December starting at 11 a.m. the
Seaside Seniors will have their Christmas luncheon in Sutton Hall at St.
Augustine's.
Next Sunday, 23 December, we will have our
Christmas pot luck lunch.
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List
especially all of those who are suffering in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine Episcopal
ChurchGalveston, Texas 77550
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