Each week during Advent I want to begin by sharing with you some resources to assist you in your Advent devotional life.
Advent Week One: Longing
Waiting doesn’t resonate well in our culture. Our spending habits serve as one good example. Because we need it now, we rack up outlandish debts we may have no plan for repaying. The Christian life is – and always has been – filled with waiting. Whether it was the Old Testament anticipation of the promised Messiah or the New Testament eager expectation for Jesus Christ’s return, believers are often focused on what is to come. It seems that God teaches us the most poignant lessons when we pay attention to the ways in which his Kingdom is upside down from ours. Perhaps God wants us to feel strongly dissatisfied with the imperfections of our current state and long for what is to come. Could it be that in those moments of yearning we grow to better understand the ways of our Lord?
You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.
— Matthew 24:44
Advent helps us to understand the fullness of the value and meaning of the mystery of Christmas. It is not just about commemorating the historical event, which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village of Judea. Instead, we must understand that our whole life should be an ‘advent,’ in vigilant expectation of Christ’s final coming. To prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, will come one day to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize his presence in the events of daily life. Advent is then a period of intense training that directs us decisively to the One who has already come, who will come and who continuously comes.
— Pope John Paul II
Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 1:7
John Lennon was right about one thing in his song “Imagine.” This world is broken, and we should yearn for its healing. Our hearts should ache for a better world. Sadly, our culture often fosters a complacent, blasé, smug approach to Christianity. In the words of C. S. Lewis, “We are far too easily pleased.” We’re happy to numb and freeze our restless ache for a better world. Advent is the season of the church year that ignites that longing in our hearts. Before we rush into “Happy Holidays,” we pause and let longing rise up within us. Throughout Advent we catch glimpses of a better world. And as we catch glimpses of this Messiah-healed world, we long for its coming now. All of the best Advent hymns capture this spirit of groaning and longing for Messiah’s better world. When we sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” with its dark, unresolved melody, it cracks our hearts open with longing’s wound. And yet, we know Messiah has come, even as we wait for him to come again. Advent is a deliciously painful mix of joy and anguish. This Advent-like longing is at the heart of Christian spirituality. Augustine’s Latin phrase desiderium sinus cordis — “yearning makes the heart grow deep”—became a central theme in his pilgrimage on earth. Augustine cried out, “Give me one who yearns; give me one far away in this desert, who is thirsty and sighs for the spring of the Eternal country. Give me that sort of man: he knows what I mean.” C. S. Lewis claimed that in this life the Advent-like stab of longing serves as a spiritual homing device, placed deep in our heart by God to lead us back to him. Thus, as Psyche realizes in Till We Have Faces, “It almost hurt me . . . like a bird in a cage when the other birds of its kind are flying home. The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from. The longing for home.”
Advent trains us to ache again. Of all the seasons of the church year, Advent is the time to acknowledge, feel, and even embrace the joyful anguish of longing for Messiah’s birth and the world’s rebirth. So we sing our aching songs while we light candles and festoon the church with greenery. That is Advent longing, and we couldn’t imagine it any other way.
Everlasting God,Gateway Gift Trust Board / Council of Synod Meetings
in whom we live and move and have our being:
You have made us for yourself,
so that our hearts are restless
until they rest in you.
— Augustine of Hippo
Held at Botany Lutheran Church 25th – 26th November 2011
Council of Synod
- Pastor John Davison has been appointed the new Vice President of the LCNZ.
- Pastor Chris Janetzki has been appointed as the COS extra Pastor Member.
- Both these appointments are effective from 1st January 2012.
- COS members spent considerable time talking about Mission and Congregational Growth. This discussion flows out the key LCNZ initiatives that came out of the LCNZ summit that was held midway through 2010.
- Developing a Proactive Mission Culture, it was decided to rework the LCNZ Vision Statement "Celebration 21" and have this statement as the starting point of all our future discussions.
- Rationalisation of Pastoral resources to establish regional ministry. It was noted that the Hamilton/Bay of Plenty Ministry area seems to be working well at this stage.
- Youth and Children's Ministry. Planning is already underway for the 2012 National Youth Camp. Childsafe training has taken place at Upper Moutere and other training days are being planned for early 2012.
- LSM were led by 20/20 participant Katharina Borzsik on a visioning and planning day. Katharina led COS through the outcomes of this planning day.
- Web Manager Simon Lieschke is to remind congregations on a regular basis to keep the information on the LCNZ Web page up to date.
- Olive Tree has a new editor. Dan Carswell has agreed to take on the editing of the Olive Tree. Our thanks go to Anna Kroehn for being the editor for the past year. We need to find a new printer for the Olive Tree as the Palmerston North Boys High School printing facilities are no longer available to us. ome options for a new printer are being investigated.
- There is an Administration Workshop planned for March 2012.
- President Elect Mark is working on a draft plan for visiting congregations in 2012.
- Wellington Call meeting is scheduled for 4th December.
- Mountainside's Call meeting will be held sometime in January 2012.
- The Whitfield's will be moving into the new President's manse in late December.
- COS will be advertising for the position of LCNZ Administrator (30 hrs a week) and for a part time Finance Officer (25 hours per month) with both positions to begin in February 2012.
- Major grants for 2012 totalling $246,876 were approved.
Here are 2 fantastic local mission opportunities for people who would like to join our team and who are passionate about transformative change in communities … more specifically OUR community! Both these positions work closely together, and both have a component of youth work and community development. Please contact Judy Kumeroa, Te Ora Hou Whanganui, 32 Totara St, Whanganui – 06 3447860, 027 426 6494 for more information. Applications close on 9th December.
Investment Opportunity in Whakatane
The manse in Whakatane is currently on the market. We wanted to let the wider church know in case anyone was looking for an investment opportunity in this area. The manse is newly refurbished and has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths and the rice is negotiable.
Ordinations
The Ordination Service for the LCA/NZ takes place this Sunday, 4th December at Concordia College Chapel in Adelaide. Wayne George is amongst the group of graduates from Australian Lutheran College to be ordained.
ALWS Christmas Gifts of Grace on the Way
Fishing nets. Footballs. Small start-up business loans. Pigs. The famous Lutheran Long Drop Loo. Yes, it’s ALWS Gifts of Grace time again. More than 20 unique gifts, starting from just $6, with many gifts under $20. Last year more than 10,000 Gifts of Grace brought joy to the people who gave them AND received them – here in NZ and in Australia, and in the developing communities where they were delivered.
If you need catalogues, or would like to buy Gifts of Grace go to www.alws.org.au/grace.
Call Information
The St Pauls Wellington and St Francis Mauriceville West hold a call meeting this Sunday, 4th December. Mountainside has postponed their call meeting until sometime in January next year.
Prayer at the National Office
Every Friday morning at 9.30am, the Staff of the LCNZ National Office takes time to read God’s Word together and to pray. Anyone is welcome to submit prayer requests to the email below, and if you’re in the neighbourhood, please feel free to pop in and join us.
Jean King Books
There are a few copies of Jean King’s book, The Lutheran Story – a Brief History of the Lutheran Church in New Zealand 1843-1993 available at the National Office. If you’re interested in getting a copy, please contact the National Office.
Kia noho a Ihowa ki a koutou / the Lord be with you!
+MARK
President Elect – Lutheran Church of New Zealand
