It’s Advent!
Christmas and New Year are on the horizon – but for the church, a new year has just started. The next twelve months at church will be full of readings from Luke’s Gospel.
[Like each gospel, Luke’s very much has its own character. For many, Luke is the gospel of inclusiveness and especially the poor. The parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son appear only in Luke.
For others it is the gospel of the Holy Spirit. Luke depicts the Spirit as a lively, intervening aspect of God. The Holy Spirit bursts into the world, actively guiding people and leading events. It’s a testimony that God pushed us in the right direction at a critical moment in history. This theme is carried right into the book of Acts.
Perhaps you think of Luke in a particular way too.] For me, especially at this time of year, Luke’s is the gospel of songs. The three great ‘songs’ – the Benedictus (Luke 1.68-79), the Magnificat (Luke 1.46-55) and the Nunc Dimitis (Luke 2.29-32) all appear early in Luke’s gospel.
Each is a song of God’s promise fulfilled. In them, Zechariah, Mary and then Simeon each speak about what they long for and see coming. The songs are personal and prophetic, all at once! They are songs of freedom, release, and the coming (‘advent’) of God’s kingdom. They demonstrate a sense of joy that God is taking the burden of sin off humanity.
Tell Out My Soul! written, in 1962 by Timothy Dudley-Smith, wonderfully captures this spirit through its reworking of the words of the Magnificat.
Each of these songs is used every day in formal Church of England worship. The Benedictus is the climax of Morning Prayer. The Magnificat appears in Evening Prayer, and the much shorter Nunc Dimitis summarises our night prayer. In Daily Office, we usually speak them rather than sing them, but even so, they flow with their own rhythm and sound. They anchor us and tell our story – a bit like saying the creed together on Sunday morning.
If you are lucky enough to regularly attend daily offices, you will know the power of these three songs. They will have seeped into your soul and you probably almost know them off by heart! Different words will emerge into your mind at different times of day or moments in life.
If you can’t attend the daily office, you could join one online (perhaps Lichfield Cathedral, which streams Morning Prayer six days a week).
Or, why not read one of these three songs regularly at your time of prayer? You will be praying them alongside thousands of others each day. They will refresh you and remind you of your faith. As you speak them, they will become a way of expressing your Christian desire for the ‘advent’ of God’s Kingdom. It’s a desire which you share with me, and with millions of other praying Christians today and every day.
Revd Simon Foster is the diocese’s Mission and Strengthening Communities Team Leader and can be contacted via 07496 638805 / simon.foster@lichfield.anglican.org
You can join Lichfield Cathedral for morning prayer online six day a week – visit www.facebook.com/LichfieldCathedralDailyWorship/