Advent

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Advent 3: In His Great Humility
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"Things are amiss, but when Jesus comes again in glory, all things become right, all things are set right in him. That's one of the great hopes of Advent—he is indeed the hope of the nations. He is the hope for peace. He is the hope for reconciliation. He is everything." 

In this third installment of our series on the Collect for Advent, Bishop Alex explores the contrast between Jesus coming "in great humility" and his coming again "in his glorious majesty."

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Advent 2: In Great Humility
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"We are not good at humility, but God is. In the incarnation, in the cross, in every way that he comes to us, he comes in humility... We remember in Advent the humility of God, the smallness of God. Even though he is glorious and huge, he makes himself small. And that is one of the great graces of his life, death, and resurrection. As we consider his humility, let us also ask for the grace for that humility to be formed in us." 

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Advent 1: Give Us Grace
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"As we take off that which is not of God, there is an invitation to the second act, the grace to put on the things of God, to put on the helmet of salvation, to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Those things go together—to cast off one is to put on another. If we drive out a demon and don't fill the gap with something else, seven more demons worse than the first come flooding in." 

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An Advent 4 Devotional
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But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

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An Advent 3 Devotional
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Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

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An Advent 2 Devotional
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The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
    the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
    and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
    the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
    the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands,

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Advent 1 Devotional
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The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,