O Lord Jesus Christ, before whose judgment-seat we must all appear and give account of the things done in the body: Grant, we beseech thee, that when the books are opened in that day, the faces of thy servants may not be ashamed; through thy merits, O blessed Saviour, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

O Lord Jesus Christ, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise make ready your way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient toward the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world, we may be found a people acceptable in your sight; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Morning all! Well it has been such a pleasure and a privilege to be back out, trusty camera in hand, enjoying the recent frosty sunrises in my local park with these beautiful creatures.🦌☀️🥰

Wishing you all a very happy Sunday.🤗@HRP_palaces @SallyWeather @StormHour #sunrise pic.twitter.com/m70WHHvOyO

— Scot Down South (@LesleyAM13) December 11, 2022

O Thou, Who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and on Whom the eyes of all do wait, Who crownest the year with Thy goodness, and openest Thine hand and finest all things living with plenteousness: every day we give thanks unto Thee, and praise Thy Name for ever and ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

Finally on my week of photos from the #LakeDistrict is a simply perfect winter's morning on Derwent Water – with fog and perfect mirrors reflections. All I could say when I arrived was WOW!

Notes: 1.3 sec at f – 11 ISO 50 #thursdaymorning #ThePhotoHour #Keswick #Cumbria pic.twitter.com/OQnCuJUOHU

— Gary Holpin | Photography (@GaryHolpin) December 8, 2022

From the fourth century onward, hope for the coming judgment of Christ was embedded in the shape of the season. Advent hope is preeminently about hope for the return of Jesus. Even now, in the Advent liturgies of the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox churches, the prayers and Scripture readings have a laser-like focus on the judgment of Christ that is to come.

This message doesn’t align with the affected excitement and coziness of secular Advent or Christmas. Who’s to blame for that? By no means do I want to minimize the role that commercialization has played in undermining the sober character of the season. But I think the greater culprit—in addition to the sheer forgetfulness of tradition that plagues Western Christians—is a loss of confidence that the final judgment of Christ is actually good news and therefore something for believers to look forward to.

The people known for enthusiastically preaching the return of Christ in judgment are generally known for being angry and antagonistic toward those they regard as heretics and nonbelievers. Among “missional” pastors who are culture affirming, devoted to social justice, and committed to creation care, I can count on one hand the number of sermons I’ve heard about how the judgment of Jesus is good news.

Read it all.

As I told my students recently: the judgment of God, rightly understood, is good news.

"I think the greater culprit…is a loss of confidence that the final judgment of Christ is actually good news and therefore something for believers to look forward to."https://t.co/Chu1ndD3Oc

— W. David O. Taylor (@wdavidotaylor) December 7, 2022

Almighty and most merciful God, who has given the Bible to be the revelation of thy great love to man, and of thy power and will to save him: Grant that our study of it may not be made vain by the callousness or the carelessness of our hearts, but that by it we may be confirmed in penitence, lifted to hope, made strong for service, and, above all, filled with true knowledge of thee and of thy Son Jesus Christ.

There is solace
in mountains
or under canopy of trees
their steadfastness
is for all~

📷 Pierre Pellegrini pic.twitter.com/I3SOdQOHh0

— Joyce (@joycebudenberg) December 7, 2022

Almighty God, who in many and various ways didst speak to thy chosen people by the prophets, and hast given us, in thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the hope of Israel: Hasten, we beseech thee, the coming of the day when all things shall be subject to him, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.

today’s sunrise 🌅

Nauset beach, Cape Cod. pic.twitter.com/OVXVvcOxX6

— Darius Aniunas (@dariusaniunas) December 6, 2022

O Gracious God and most merciful Father, who has vouchsafed us the rich and precious jewel of thy holy Word: Assist us with thy Spirit that it may be written in our hearts to our everlasting comfort, to reform us, to renew us according to thine own image, to build us up into the perfect building of thy Christ, and to increase us in all heavenly virtues. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the same Jesus Christ’s sake.

What do you know about the heritage of the Geneva Bible? Read this guest blog post by Jonathan Edwards to learn more: https://t.co/7UFa06K1DL pic.twitter.com/M6J534OFJC

— Christian History Magazine (@ChristiaHistory) December 3, 2022

Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Guten Morgen ☕️💕 wünsche allen einen besinnlichen
2. Adventssonntag 🌟🌲🌟 pic.twitter.com/UMvzAYMWhc

— Renate Kleine (@RenateKleine) December 4, 2022

Help us, O Christ, to seek your truth and bear it; to learn your truth and love it, to tell your truth and live it, and to defend your truth and die in it. Amen.

Cornish Coast pic.twitter.com/K6TOORDVGS

— Veritatis Cupitor (@English1Maiden) December 3, 2022

O great and glorious God, holy and immortal, who searches out the policies of nations and tries the hearts of men: Come, we pray thee, in judgment, upon the nations of the world; come and bring to destruction all that is contrary to thy holy will for mankind, and cause the counsels of the wicked to perish. Come, O Lord, into our hearts, and root out from them that thou seest, and we cannot see, to be unlike the Spirit of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth, in a serious seeking after thee, and in an affectionate walking with thee, every day of our lives; that when thou comest, we may be found not hiding our talent, nor serving the flesh, nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished, but waiting and longing for our Lord, our glorious God for ever and ever.

Well hello December, you can carry on like this. Which direction to look was a problem today on Glastonbury Tor as the mists flowed across the Somerset levels and town. pic.twitter.com/1XV5ac0zyj

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) December 1, 2022

O thou, who hast foretold that thou wilt return to judgment in an hour that we are not aware of, grant us grace to watch and pray always, that whether thou shalt come at even, or at midnight, or in the morning, we may be found among the number of those servants who shall be blessed in watching for their Lord, to whom be all glory now and for evermore.

We're sticking with #Dartmoor today, with a beautiful reflection of the autumn colours at Burrator Reservoir….

Notes: 3.0 sec at f – 19 ISO 100 #WednesdayMotivation #AutumnVibes #ThePhotoHour #StormHour pic.twitter.com/ZAckCM3Tbe

— Gary Holpin | Photography (@GaryHolpin) November 30, 2022

Thou who with thine own mouth hast avouched that at midnight, at an hour when we are not aware, the Bridegroom shall come: Grant that the cry, The Bridegroom cometh, may sound evermore in our ears, that so we be never unprepared to meet him, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

‘Bora da’ 😄🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🔥
‘Good morning’ 😄🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🔥@carolvorders @AledHall @hooson21 @ItsYourWales @Ruth_ITV @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @S4Ctywydd @hawley_caroline @DerekTheWeather @IfanHuwDafydd @sianharries_ @RealShanCothi @HCynwal @carolkirkwood @gwennanharries pic.twitter.com/IClntNWlNW

— Llelo Gruffudd (@Llelo2801) November 29, 2022

Almighty and everlasting God, who orderest all things in heaven and on earth: We give thee thanks and praise that thou didst make all ages a preparation for the coming of thy Son, our blessed Redeemer. Prepare us for the coming of him whom thou dost send, and grant that of his fullness we may all receive; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Prayers for the Christian Year (SCM, 1964)

"Riverside Autumn Hues"#BackFork #ElkRiver #AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/meGqilp1SR

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) November 28, 2022

The music is by Rowland H. Prichard and the lyrics are by Charles Wesley.

Listen to it all.

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

15. This time of Christ’s feast natal,
We will be merry, great and small,
And thou shalt go out of this hall;
Farewell from us both all and some!

16. Advent is gone, Christmas is come;
Be we merry now, all and some!
He is not wise that will be dumb
In ortu Regis omnium. [At the coming of the King of all things]

Read it all.

'Advent is gone, Christmas is come;
Be we merry now, all and some!'

A medieval friar's cheery carol bidding farewell to Advent: https://t.co/X3eT0CHyHD pic.twitter.com/bbTcd7w90A

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) December 24, 2021

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the solemn feast of our redemption which is now at hand, may help us both in this present life, and further us towards the attaining of thine eternal joy in that which is to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Prayers for the Christian Year (SCM, 1964)

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, the final window
‘Mam Tor’#SRBadmin pic.twitter.com/WSpzgqALLy

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 24, 2021

In their annual Christmas messages, bishops of the Church of England speak of the end of 2021 as a time of uncertainty and anxiety but say the message of the Christmas story is needed more than ever.

The Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, refers to weeks of uncertainty about whether some Christmas celebrations should go ahead amid concerns about spreading covid-19, at the end of “another unsettling year for the human race, and us as individuals”.

But he adds: “Every Christmas we tell again the story of … God, who loves our world so much that he chooses to come among us – not because he is obliged to, not because we have asked him to, but simply out of grace.

“We always begin with grace, and we always come back to grace, shown in the sign of Emmanuel, God with us in Jesus Christ, born as a baby among us.

“No law, no government, no power on earth can cancel the wonder of that birth.”

Read it all and there are video links provided.

Nothing can cancel the message of Christmas – bishops speak of hope amid uncertainty | The Church of England https://t.co/GUGBWW4uhX

— John Inge (@BishopWorcester) December 23, 2021

O God, who didst promise that thy glory should be revealed, and that all flesh should see it together: Stir up our hearts, we beseech thee, to prepare the way of thine only begotten Son; and pour out upon us thy loving kindness, that we who are afflicted by reason of our sins may be refreshed by the coming of our Saviour, and may behold his glory; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth one God, world without end.

Gm, beautiful family! pic.twitter.com/C8fDjoZx7t

— James A. Truett | Irish Artist (@jamesatruett) December 23, 2021

Lord God Almighty, King of glory and love eternal, worthy art thou at all times to receive adoration, praise, and blessing; but especially at this time do we praise thee for the sending of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, for whom our hearts do wait, and to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, be honour and dominion, now and for ever.

–Prayers for the Christian Year (SCM, 1964)

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 22
‘Winter Scene’#SRBadmin pic.twitter.com/pQamvgSQds

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 22, 2021

Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and in homelessness, loneliness, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Vermont, USA 🍁🧡🧡🧡 pic.twitter.com/sd7fjKlpnZ

— Ana Otta (@ottavaldez) December 19, 2021

God our redeemer,
who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Today marks the fourth Sunday of Advent and we light the fourth next candle on the Advent Wreath. 🕯

On the Fourth Sunday of Advent (the last before Christmas Day) we remember Mary, who waited for his birth, which had been announced to her by an angel.#AtTheHeartOfChristmas pic.twitter.com/Y2YB1DzvwS

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) December 19, 2021

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son at his coming amongst us brought redemption unto his people, and peace to men of goodwill: Grant that, when he shall come again in glory to judge the world and to make all things new, we may be found ready to receive him, and enter into his joy; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ.

Frohen 4. Advent 😊 pic.twitter.com/5ZrUpZx6M3

— Dr. Malek Hallinger 🔬🧫🎙 (@DrHallinger_vet) December 19, 2021

O Christ our God, who wilt come to judge the world in the manhood which thou hast assumed: We pray thee to sanctify us wholly, that in the day of thy coming we may be raised up to live and reign with thee for ever.

Most detailed image of the Crab #Nebula by @NASAHubble 🦀 pic.twitter.com/jNJrnTwnfL

— Space_Hub (@SpaceHub_SL) November 20, 2021

O Lord Jesus Christ, before whose judgment-seat we must all appear and give account of the things done in the body: Grant, we beseech thee, that when the books are opened in that day, the faces of thy servants may not be ashamed; through thy merits, O blessed Saviour, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 17
‘Crossing the Bridge’#RowlandHilder pic.twitter.com/wBjuM6Qm9l

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 17, 2021

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Sunrise over the Anchorage bowl and the Chugach Mountains. @ThePhotoHour @StormHour pic.twitter.com/y9dq3TJSis

— akdanno (@akdanno_) December 16, 2021

O eternal and glorious Trinity, deeper than the deepest sea, and the abyss of love for whom we thirst and long; let us forever desire your light, forever seek your face and forever wrap ourselves in the robe of your glory; world without end. Amen.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 15
‘Sledges’#RonaldLampitt pic.twitter.com/XJZPm0Uqkb

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 15, 2021

But to Joseph, Mary’s perceived sin did not make her an outcast. He knew she deserved love and protection. The NIV beautifully combines Joseph’s Jewish religious culture and his personal spirituality in one sentence: “Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matt. 1:19).

Here, we see that Joseph isn’t the grumpy, emasculated husband of Christmas legend. Even before he received God’s message about Jesus, Joseph’s demonstrated love for Mary and his commitment to protect her dignity overpowered any legalism. Joseph’s behavior portrays genuine masculinity and Bible-certified righteousness.

The situation, of course, isn’t what he had first imagined. In a dream, an angel told him Mary’s pregnancy was of divine origin. Joseph dismissed his previous plans and agreed to obey just as quickly and simply as Mary had accepted that she was pregnant before marriage (Matt. 1:24; Luke 1:38).

Such a positive response to such a difficult and risky circumstance would have been impossible in a spiritually dull, legalistic mind. A legalistic man might have quickly dismissed the angel’s message as hallucination, as it seemed to contradict the law. Joseph’s spirituality was of such a kind that he was able to value the will of the lawgiver more than the law, something that eluded many sophisticated theologians and religious leaders (Matt. 15:3–9), not to mention Jesus’ disciples.

Read it all.

Joseph could have been filled with resentment, but he wasn't.

"I’ve seen how difficult that is," writes @Aniyonizigiye, especially "for men who have had to flee their homes and deal with the frustrations of providing without stability."

How did he do it? https://t.co/Z69fpvrfRf

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) December 13, 2021

O Heavenly Father, whose most dearly beloved Son has come once to save the world, and will come again to judge the world: Help us, we pray thee, to watch like servants who wait for the coming of their lord. May we abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost; and, having this hope, may we purify ourselves by thy grace, even as Christ is pure. Grant this, O Father, for his sake and for the glory of thy holy name.

Sunrise in the valley of Knights of old. Historic Chesterton,Warwickshire,England. December 12th 2021. pic.twitter.com/MmYS3YvDBv

— David Adams Photos 2021. (@chesterton2015) December 13, 2021