I am excited about beginning our Advent gatherings with Martin Luther. We are reading Luther’s Christmas Book which is a collection of Luther’s abridged sermons about the Christmas season. This week we will be discussing his sermon on the Annunciation and his sermon on the Visitation. Over the holiday weekend, please read Matthew 1 and Luke 1, which are the Scriptural background for these sermons. Luther has a uniquely wonderful ability to bring these stories alive in a very down-to-earth manner. As you read through these two sermons, hopefully, you will be reintroduced to Mary, Elizabeth, and the angel Gabriel and will have a renewed anticipation for the birth of Jesus. Allow yourself to become part of the story. As Luther tells us in his conclusion on the Annunciation, “for us the hardest point [is] not so much to believe that He is the son of the Virgin and God himself, as to believe that this Son of God is ours. . . . [for] this Child belongs to all mankind.”
In addition to Tuesday nights, there are several other offerings during Advent.
- There will be a performance of selections from Bach’s Wachet Auf and Handel’s Messiah on Saturday, December 2 at 4:00 pm at Trinity and Sunday, December 3 at 2:30pm at All Saints Pawleys Island. The performance features the Long Bay Symphony and members of area choirs, including Trinity, Messiah, and the Myrtle Beach Master Chorale. Tickets are required.
- Every Wednesday during Advent (Dec. 6, 13, and 20), Evening Prayer will be offered at 7:00pm at St. Phillips using the Book of Common Prayer.
On Tuesday, dinner is at 6. The menu is a spinach salad bar. Discussion about 6:45. Compline at 8. Hope to see you here and please bring a friend.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Price of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6