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Day 8, The Second Week of Advent: Connecting the Dots

One of my favorite things as a child was to get those pages that we're filled with nothing more than Dots...and the goal was to connect the dots and then discover what the picture is all about.

As we celebrate Christ today in our worship, I hope you can "SEE" Jesus in your time of worship with others.  I hope you can connect the dots.

Each Sunday in Advent we sing an old hymn to begin our worship service - O Come, O Come Emmanuel  The hymn has its roots in the 8th century.  I think its the closest we modern Christians get to singing like the ancient Monastics did in their chants.  Do you remember it?

1 O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.
Here the hymn begins...with a prayer, a longing for God to come - Emmanuel means "God with us".  From the prophet Isaiah, 
Isaiah 7:14 
14  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 

The longing for God to come is where our Advent intersects with our own lives.  The prophet 2700 years ago is saying something for us today. 
Connect the dots...
Galatians 4:4 - 5
4  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,  5  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 

Immanuel, Jesus Christ, born of the woman (his humanity), born under the law (his perfect obedience), redeems those who also were under God's law (because we could never perfectly obey it) so that we might be adopted in God's family, be the children of God (eternally).

Connect the dots...
1 John 3:1-3
1  See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
3  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Connect the dots, give him all glory, honor and praise today as you worship Him.

Peace 

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