Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

Preacher: Dr. Ben MerkleText: Psalm 2

Preacher: Shawn Paterson

Preacher: Douglas Wilson.It is our usual custom to recite the Apostles Creed at this point in the service, but several times a year we break from that custom, and recite the Nicene Creed or the Definition of Chalcedon. During Advent season, it is Chalcedon, and so there are a few things for use to consider.

Preacher: Ben Zornes.Text: Psalm 132The season of Advent is often painted in the dark hues of solemnity. Advent is a season of waiting, hoping, longing. But this longing, as our fellow saints of the Old Testament demonstrate, need not have too much starch in the collar. The expectation of Israel was jovial, and thus gilded with glistening gold and silver, clothed in royal red and priestly white, vigorously dancing.

A genuine biblical faith is one that knows how to climb mountains, and how to not get lost in the valleys. In the flesh we know how to get used to what happens to us all the time. But it takes a true spirit of Christian character to deal with the fluctuations.

Preacher: Toby SumpterThis union of God and man in Jesus underlines what we are celebrating in Advent. The chasm between Creator and creature is an infinite chasm. Man cannot cross it. Nothing in all of creation can leap from some finite point and arrive at infinite. Infinite, by definition, doesn’t ever really arrive. And this is why if there is to be a bridge between God and man, it must come from the other side. The finite cannot reach the infinite, but the infinite can reach the finite. And this is what God has done in Jesus Christ

Preacher: Ben Zornes.Text: Psalm 40This Psalm has three layers to it. The first is the one on the surface. David recounts a deliverance from one of his many trials, and his response of praise. The second layer is that David’s sufferings reflect the common plight of Israel as whole. Her history of exiles and returns, persecutions and deliverances, separation from and the reunion with Jehovah lie just beneath the surface of David’s story. But as we go deeper we see that David’s story, which is Israel’s story, is really the Messiah’s story.

Preacher: Aaron Ventura

Over time, holidays take on a certain patina. Long usage and custom make this necessary, but it remains our responsibility to not allow such later accretions to overthrow or to reverse the actual import or meaning of the festival. In the case of Christmas, we have, quite obviously, the scriptural story of the birth of the Messiah, but we also have—do we not?—silver bells, softly falling snow, Hallmark movies, caramel popcorn, miracles on 34th street, fireplaces aglow, and various sorts of festive jello dishes. What are we to do with all of that? Well, enjoy them... but don’t let them become your teachers.

Preacher: Ben Zornes.Discontentment makes the turkey dry, the gravy bland, and the pies dull. Worse yet, it makes the fellowship frigid, the conversation barbed, and the relationships strained. Contentment, on the other hand, can make a meager meal a feast, it can make enemies into friends, it can turn hardships into joys. It does this because it is rooted in the fact that God is on the throne.