Prelude — Mrs. Jane McAtee

Call To Worship — Based on Isaiah 9, Psalm 96:11-13

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; let the sear roar, and all that fills it. Let the paddocks and fields exult, and everything in them. Let all the trees in the bush sing for joy before the Lord; for He is coming, He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with His truth. And He is named, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Invocation

Eternal God, your promise of a coming Savior is spoken in your words to Eve after the fall, in the psalms of David, in the words of the prophets.  Your Word of deliverance is spoken, eternal God, and takes flesh at last in the womb of the virgin.

We ask that Emmanuel would be honored in the people of your Church and that Nations would find themselves bowing the knee to your Christ who alone can provide redemption and grace. We ask this through him whose coming is certain, whose Day draws near: your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Nicene Creed (Responsive)

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

THE FIRST LESSON

Scripture —  Genesis 3:15 / Matthew 1:20 / Galatians 4:4

Congregational Response

We speak with gratitude when we see your promise to Eve, of a coming Savior, fulfilled in the Christ child who crushed the head of the Serpent.

 Carol — “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”  (Brown —  169)

THE SECOND LESSON

Scripture — Genesis 12:3 / Matthew 1:1  — Genesis 22:18 / Romans 9:5

Congregational Response — Father, Thank you for the promise, to the patriarchs, of a coming Christ and then for the promised fulfilled in Christ’s arrival.

Carol: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (Brown 184)

THE THIRD LESSON

Scripture — Micah 5:2 / Matthew 2:1, Luke 2:4-6

Congregational Response — Praise be unto God for providing us the Bread of life as born in the House of Bread

Carol —  “O Little Town Of Bethlehem” (Brown 402)

Special Music — String Duet

THE FOURTH LESSON

Luke 1:46-55 / Luke 2:29-32

Congregational Response —  We thank you for the promise fulfilled that elicited a response that speaks of gratitude for a Salvation that is both individual and global.

Carol  —  “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” (Brown 168)

THE FIFTH LESSON

Scripture — Isaiah 7:14 / Matthew 1:23

Congregational Response — We look for no other Redeemer but He who was and is “God with Us,” the Lord Christ.

Carol — “Joy To The World” (Brown 170)

THE SIXTH LESSON

Scripture — Isaiah 9:2-7  / Revelation 1:12-16

Congregational Response —  Grant us grace Father, to remember that this child is now your Warrior King and that we walk in the path of His conquering work. 

Hymn — Christ Shall Have Dominion (Blue Psalter — 135 Blue)

SEVENTH LESSON

Candlelight Exhortation — Matthew 4:16
Carol — “Silent Night” (Brown 195)

Words To Go

“Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory of the past and hope for the future which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic memory within us, namely, the memory of  God who became man. Rightly remembered and held, this is a restorative memory; it brings hope, it brings peace, it brings confidence. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to recite her History, so as to awaken her memory so that she can discern God’s accomplishment in the past so as to provide fuel in the confidence of his promises for the future.”

_________

“The birth of a king has lost most of its meaning in our day, because the few kings remaining are mainly figureheads. In earlier days, it was, however, a momentous event. Whenever a son was born to a king, the entire kingdom celebrated with a joy our holidays today do not have.

Why was the birth of a king’s son so great an event to the poorest man of the realm, and so great a cause for rejoicing? It meant, very simply, that a protector and defender was born, someone who in the days ahead would provide the leadership, unifying force, and strength to repel all enemies, suppress criminals within the realm, and enforce justice. A kingdom without an heir to the throne had an uncertain future. Men being sinners, the kingdom would face internal and external troubles if no king reigned to enforce justice. The succession being uncertain, the kingdom would risk civil war.

Having co-opted, if not actually invented, the “social sciences”, cultural Marxism and Critical theory seek to legitimize their attempted murder of beautiful facts with a gang of brutal theorems, each one more beguiling than the last, iron fists in velvet gloves, grimacing skulls beneath seductive skins.

Michael Walsh
The Devil’s Pleasure Palace — pg. 49

Cultural Marxist, “Critical theory,” was first practiced by Satan in Genesis 3 when Satan, later to be echoed by Herbert Marcuse, diabolically asked Eve, “hath God really said,” thus implying that God’s legislative Word was not authoritative. As such Critical theory, in its origin, is the methodology of regions sulfuric. The Frankfurt school’s “Critical Theory,” exists to challenge existing Western civilization traditional standards by means of questioning what it styles as the “power structures” which hold sway just by means of longstanding dictatorial and tyrannical authority. “Critical theory,” seldom offers anything constructive, preferring instead just to point out the “unfairness,” of existing cultural arrangements. Critical theory, thus, holds that there is no received civilizational tenet that should not be questioned and attacked. All the former totems, shibboleths, and taboos having descended from the Christian West are challenged as completely arbitrary, or are the result of a conspiracy of power to keep the perverted, the feminist, and the anti-Christ down.

The lie in “Critical theory” is found the fact that it refuses to hold itself to the same standard that it holds all that it beats down. Critical theory complains about the unfair power structures that provide hegemonic control over culture but it fails to note that Critical theory itself has become the supportive tool of a power structure that desire to establish a new hegemony. Critical theory props up a sodomite agenda, a feminist dominance, and a satanic culture in the name of an egalitarianism that favors the hegemony of nihilism.

It’s methodology is just to criticize the hell out of whatever it desires to pull down. If it desires to pull down classical literature it will complain about the prevalence of White Christian males in the corpus of great Western Literature and will offer, in place of a standard cultural literacy, unheard of Lesbian amputees who wrote as members of some pygmy tribe in Africa. If it desires to pull down historic legal-theory it will complain that law order has presupposed an oppressive transcendent Christian god and that other law orders reflective of Totem Pole Aztecs who were wrongly shunted ought to be considered as just as legitimate as that law order that has been in the ascendancy in the Christian West for centuries.  If it desires to pull down the Christian model of the biblical and traditional family it will first mis-characterize patriarchy by faulting it in Adorno’s “Authoritarian Personality,” as being unhealthy, insane, and dysfunctional by definition. Once the Christian family was deconstructed all other family forms could be introduced as legitimate. The consequence is family is no longer defined with the consequence that every imaginable perverted combination is introduced as “family.” Whatever the target the secret in Critical theory is just to rip and tear down.

Cultural Marxism and Critical theory has been so successful due to the fact that they never go on the defensive. The mode of the this school of thought is to attack, attack, attack.  It excels in putting its opponents on the defensive by screaming injustice, while often mocking its opponents view. The reason it has been so successful as a tactic is because the West has forgotten the whys and wherefores of its belief system. Having for so long assumed its position, it no longer has the means and arguments to defend its position let alone go on the attack against Cultural Marxism and Critical theory pointing out and mocking its own contradictions and sheer utter silliness.  Critical theory is a foundational-less and toothless paper tiger and if handled rightly it can be exposed as absurd almost instantaneously.

Until Christianity can produce apologists and worldview thinkers again the consequence will be that Cultural Marxism with its Critical theory will sweep everything in its path.

And so we come to Advent. The word “Advent” is the English version of the Latin word “Adventus,” which is in turn a word Translated from the Greek world Parousia.” Taken literally they all mean “coming.” In Western Churches this has traditionally been a time where there emphasis is on waiting and preparation as we recall the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the West Advent has largely become a matter of Aesthetics and contemplation accompanied by certain traditions. And of course both Aesthetics and contemplation, as well as Traditions are important in the life of the Church and the individual believer.

In Church History Advent was a time when new Christians would prepare themselves for their coming Baptism which was held during the January feast of Epiphany. As such Christians, who were to be baptized during Epiphany spent the 40 days of Advent in penance, prayer and fasting to prepare to be clothed with Christ in Baptism.

Our customs for Advent are all rather sentimental. We have our Advent calendars and open the little boxes everyday to read the Scripture verse. We have our various Nativity scenes that we unpack every Advent with the Shepherds, and Three Wisemen, and with one Donkey and one Cow, plus a few hanging Angels over the little framed barn house.  We have the lighting of Advent Candles in Church and the Advent decorations in our Churches and I am not opposed to any of that. In point of fact I think these Traditions provide a positive good UNLESS it is forgotten that Advent is also a time to remind ourselves that the Advent of the Lord Christ was the coming of D. Day for all those who oppose the Reign and Rule of the Lord Christ. Advent is not merely about

“Away in the Manger,
No crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down His sweet head.”

It is not merely about a sentimentalized Jesus. It is also about the rightful heir to the throne being born and the subsequent attempts made upon His life in order to try and keep Him coming into His rightful inheritance. It is about the intent of the Great God to incarnate Himself in order to remove all the false pretenders to the Cosmic throne. It is betrayal, battle and bloodshed. It is about apparent defeat followed by certain irresistible victory. It is about the Lord Christ putting His feet upon the neck of His enemies as the Great Triumphant Sovereign overall.

It is about, in the words of the “Dream of the Rood,”

the young hero (who was God Almighty)
Got ready, resolute and strong in heart.
…the warrior embraced the cross

Advent is God’s invasion campaign to finish what He had promised to do in Genesis 3 when He promised the battle that would result as a consequence of His intent to reverse the Fall. Speaking to the Serpent God said,

¹⁵ I will put enmity (hatred — warfare) between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring^[e] and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

During this Advent season we want to begin with examining the Advent that is Invasion. We could look @ Genesis 3 for that which we just quoted but let’s return to the passage read this morning.

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter…And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (vv. 1-5, 7-9)