“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I
do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in
the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives
to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross.” (AE 40, 214)
What goes down, must evidently go back up again! What's comical about this is....
A nationwide furor erupted over the weekend as news of the trees' removal spread, with a flood of calls to Port officials and harshly worded e-mails to Jewish organizations. Today, Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky said he would not file a lawsuit and the Port, in response, said it would put the trees back up.
Well, my first reaction was, "It's not even about Christ. If it's not about Christ, what does it matter if the trees are up or down?" Then, I thought about it more....
Will the Lord rain down salvation on all people - Rorate Coeli? Does all the earth pause and celebrate the birth of Christ - even when they don't have any clue what they are celebrating?
Yes! His Coming causes everything to pause - on earth, in heaven, everywhere! When He comes again to judge the quick and the dead everything will end. When He comes everything begins again with a new heavens and new earth!
But the "new heavens and new earth" is already going on now, isn't it? In Holy Baptism, we were raised to new life. Life in Christ which is going on right now and goes on to eternal life. Eternal life by faith, that is, won by Jesus on the Cross and received by faith alone. When Jesus comes again to judge the living and the dead, our new life will be seen by all. We'll have no reason to doubt what He's done for us. Even we will believe without doubt that Jesus saved us!
Which is why violet is an excellent color for Advent - it draws us back to repentance and faith. It brings us back to our Baptisms where our new life began. "We were buried with Him in baptism into death so that just as He is risen from the dead we too should walk in newness of life." Yeah, Advent is really all about Baptism.
Turn from your sins and prepare for His coming! That'sthevioletof Advent. When He comes.. everything stops and all the earth will see the salvation of our God. Kinda like Christmas, where everything pauses for just a moment to celebrate the Lord's advent in the manger.
They even put up Christmas trees, take them down again, and then put them back up again. They don't know why. But, you do. Don't you? Jesus is coming soon!
What do you think? "Up, down, touch the ground gets me in the mood...."
Posted On: December 12th, 2006 at 6:50am by luvable lutheran
You like purple just because they are LSU colors, right? So everytime you are in the presence of purple at a LSU game or viewing one on TV, are you saying that you are reminded of Advent purple and become repentant and strengthened in your faith?
Posted On: December 12th, 2006 at 10:49am by Bloghardt
You like purple just because they are LSU colors, right? So everytime you are in the presence of purple at a LSU game or viewing one on TV, are you saying that you are reminded of Advent purple and become repentant and strengthened in your faith?
Advent has the purple and gold! That's just bonus!
What goes down, must evidently go back 
