The Advent of Our King (v. 1-3)

 by Charles Coffin, 1676-1749, tr. John Chandler 1806-76

The Advent of our King                                             Advent – appearing/coming/arriving

Our prayers must now employ,                                  employ – engage or use

And we must hymns of welcome sing                       hymns – a religious song or poem

In strains of holy joy.                                                 Strains – the sound of a piece of music

The everlasting Son

Incarnate deigns to be,                                                Incarnate – in flesh/body

Himself a servant’s form puts on                                deign – lower oneself/permits

To set His servants free.

O Zion’s daughter, rise                                                Zion – a city symbolizing the people of God

To meet your lowly King,

Nor let your faithless heart despise                             despise – consider worthless

The peace He comes to bring.

It is common to prepare when we are hosting guests. We get a room ready, clean the house, and make special meals. The Advent of our King reminds us that Jesus our King is coming. How shall we prepare? We turn to prayer and song: prayers which call upon God for His mercy, blessings, and salvation, and songs of praise to welcome Jesus as our king.

This is a special guest, indeed, and deserves special preparation. He is everlasting and is, in fact, God in human flesh. He has humbled himself so that we might welcome him. Why would He need to humble himself? Because our sin so terribly separated us from Him that we could not welcome Him as He is, but He loved us so much that He took the lower place and come to us. No wonder we should rise to meet Jesus! He comes in peace and delivers peace to His servants. 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, fill our songs and prayers with thoughts of Your coming and incarnation. Help us to marvel and be in awe of your humility, and draw us to yourself. Fill us with your peace and help us to prepare to welcome You in our lives. Amen. 

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One of the devotional practices of Advent is the giving of alms and other acts of generosity. Through the month I encourage you to find ways to give. The giving can be great or small, but in any case it should be selfless. You could pick up a stranger's tab at the drive through. You might notice someone is short on cash in the check out line. Drop some coins in the Salvation Army kettle. One of the ministries that I would like to suggest as worthy of your generosity is Lutheran Campus Ministry of Kent. You can check them out here: https://kentstatelutherhouse.org/