Day 260: He Shall Come Again

DAY 260

                              Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic                     

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Thirty-eight    Sunday 29 November 2020

ADVENT I

“He shall come again”

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

- The Apostles’ Creed

For all the focus this season on the first coming of Jesus Christ, the first Sunday of Advent – indeed, all four Sundays of Advent, has historically focused on the second coming of Christ, something we affirm constantly in our reciting of the Apostles’ Creed but to which we give little or no thought after the recitation concludes. It remains, however, that for all the attention being given to a babe in a crib, wise men and shepherds, the greater and far more dramatic event is yet to come, the conclusion of chronos human history and the overt ruling of the world by Jesus Christ. During this time of a global pandemic, economic upheaval, and political chaos, it’s comforting to know God has a future secured for us that we can count on – the second advent. 

Reflective question: – If you knew Christ would return next week, what would you do? Change?

Reflective Scripture: Revelation 3:11 – “I am coming soon.”

Reflective hymn:

“Joy to the World,” a hymn about the Second Coming, Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove

the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love,

and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders, of His love.