"the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him"

                            

Monday musical meditations on God's good news

  


 An opening prayer:

    The advent of our King
    Our prayers must now employ,
    And we must hymns of welcome sing
    In strains of holy joy.

    The everlasting Son
    Incarnate deigns to be;
    Himself a servant’s form puts on
    To set His servants free.

    O Zion’s Daughter, rise
    To meet your lowly King,
    Nor let your faithless heart despise
    The peace He comes to bring.

     As Judge, on clouds of light,
    He soon will come again
    And His true members all unite
    With Him in heaven to reign.

    Before the dawning day
    Let sin’s dark deeds be gone,
    The sinful self be put away,
    The new self all put on.

    All glory to the Son,
    Who comes to set us free,
    With Father, Spirit, ever One,
    Through all eternity.

Matthew 24:37–44

  • “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. 
  • “That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  41  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
  • 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Good news questions

  • How could people know nothing about what would happen if Noah was building such a big boat?
  • In the Flood 2.0, some are taken away by the flood, and others right next to them are left. How can this be?
  • The "Son of Man,"Jesus calls himself 3 times. Why is this title such good news for us? See Daniel 7:13–14.

For others pray

  • That God spreads the good news of the kingdom of the Son he loves in Libya

J.S. Bach's beautiful music for today

  • BWV 62 (YouTube, "Savior of the Nations, Come")
  • This cantata combines Christmas thoughts with prayer for Jesus's reappearing.
  • For what do we see, Jesus, at your manger?
  • "Your unending light."
  • Shine it all around the world!
  • Even on the cross: "he goes before us and opens the way."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance"

Image
                              Monday musical meditations on God's good news      An opening prayer:      On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry      announces that the Lord is nigh;      Come, then and listen, for he brings      good news about the King of kings.      Then cleansed be every life from sin;      and furnished for a guest within,      And let us all our hearts prepare      for Christ to come and enter there.      We hail you as our Savior, Lord,      our Refuge and our great Reward;      Without your grace we waste away      like flowers that wither and decay.      Stretch forth your hand, our health restore,      and lift us up to fall no more.      Oh, make your fac...
Read more

"Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem"

Image
                 Monday musical meditations on God's good news An opening prayer:      Children of the heavenly Father,      Safely in his bosom gather;      Nestling bird or star in heaven      Such a refuge ne’er was given.      God his own doth tend and nourish;      In his holy courts they flourish;      From all evil things he spares them;      In his mighty arms he bears them.      Neither life nor death shall ever      From the Lord his children sever;      Unto them his grace he showeth,      And their sorrows all he knoweth.      Though he giveth or he taketh,      God his children ne’er forsaketh;      His the loving purpose solely      To preserve them pure and holy.     L o, their...
Read more

"And who is my neighbor?"

Image
                   Monday musical meditations on God's good news An opening prayer:      Though I may speak with bravest fire,       And have the gift to all inspire,      And have not love, my works are vain      As sounding brass, and hopeless gain.      Though I may give all I possess,       And striving so, my love profess,      But not be given by love within,      The profit soon turns strangely thin.      Come, Spirit, come; our hearts control,      Our spirits long to be made whole.      Let inward love guide every deed;      By this we worship and are freed.   Amen. Luke 10:25 –37 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26  “What is written in the ...
Read more