Rick Lee James opens the second Sunday of Advent at First Church of the Nazarene, reflecting on the season as a time of waiting and expectation for Christ's coming. He traces how traditional hymns like "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" express the heart's preparation, and invites the congregation to pray for readiness.
1, 2, 3, 4.
Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains, and the mountains in reply echo back their joyous strains.
Lo!
Oh yeah, in a Chelsea's day. Oh yeah, in a Chelsea's day.
Hey, welcome to this week's preparing our hearts for worship. This is going to be the second Sunday of Advent that we're coming up on, and Advent is a very special time. Just last week we had our Hanging of the Greens service, which is always a really amazing, wonderful service where we kinda tell the meaning of the seasons of the church. And Advent is when we kinda can say Happy New Year in the church because it's kinda the beginning of the Christian calendar. We start with Advent, then we go through the rest of the church seasons throughout the year, and This week we're going to be actually singing some songs like Away in a Manger, Angels We Have Heard on High, like you just heard, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, What Child Is This, O Come All Ye Faithful. And that is the cry of our heart in this Advent season is things like O Come All Ye Faithful, that we are coming to prepare our heart. We don't want to rush in too quickly into Christmas. Because we're in the season of Advent, which is a season of waiting, a season of expectation. So when we sing things like, like we did last week, like "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," we're actually preparing our hearts. So if you want to get a theme not only for this week, which is going to be the second Sunday of Advent, but for weeks to come here at First Church of the Nazarene, we're celebrating Advent and what it means that Christ is coming into the world, and then also what it means that at his second coming he is coming again. And what does it mean is as the people of God, as the community together, to come and celebrate and to rejoice, but also to prepare our hearts for whatever that may mean. How is God preparing us right now? What works of service is he calling us to, uh, in this new year that we're coming into? What— how is he preparing us, um, for his coming? How is he preparing us, uh, in this community? So it's a good time for us to pray and meet together and ask God these questions. Say, Lord, as I'm preparing my heart How do you want to prepare me? And to open ourselves to be prepared in that way. So thanks for being here for this week's Preparing Our Hearts video. You can find us at homeroadnaz.org online, and you can find me on Twitter @RickLeeJames. And thanks very much. Good to be with you this week.
