Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ

by Fleming Rutledge

The way that Jesus interacted with the powerful is the template for Christian political action.

The need is for God and the nurture of the expectation of his coming to be coupled with the patience to wait for him to come in his own time.

We can take courage from the fact that God has actually willed us to be witnesses of the incarnation of Christ, the hope of the world.

Heaven means that the reality of God’s perfect love in Jesus Christ will become a reality for all humanity.

The Lord hides himself from us because he is God, and God reveals himself to us because God is love

The Son of God underwent the opposite course: he came out from the light and went into the darkness . . . to be himself the light in our darkness.

We will not be ranking our gifts at Saint John’s by dollar amounts. What counts is the thankfulness to God, the praise of Christ that accompanies the gift.

This is the only true reason for Christian giving—gratitude to God and praise of Christ.

Looking into ourselves, recognizing our own potential for evildoing, rendering solemn thanks to God for his justice and mercy—that is what this season is about.

The very definition of grace is “favor shown to the undeserving.” That’s what makes it “amazing grace.” If it were favor shown to the deserving, it wouldn’t be amazing.