Friday, December 6, 2019
Jude 1-8
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.
3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgement of the great day.
Reflection:
Jude writes about the coming of the Lord and the judgement on the day of his return. The judgment Jude describes sounds horrible, but the Christian should take notice of the first verse of our reading which shows that the letter is written to those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father, and kept safe for Jesus Christ. As Christians, the judgment Jude describes is one we need not fear. We are kept safe for Jesus Christ, and that means we’re kept safe until he returns. And when he does, Jude’s benediction for us of mercy, peace and love will be ours in abundance.
Collect for the First Week of Advent:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Jude 1-8
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.
3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgement of the great day.
Reflection:
Jude writes about the coming of the Lord and the judgement on the day of his return. The judgment Jude describes sounds horrible, but the Christian should take notice of the first verse of our reading which shows that the letter is written to those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father, and kept safe for Jesus Christ. As Christians, the judgment Jude describes is one we need not fear. We are kept safe for Jesus Christ, and that means we’re kept safe until he returns. And when he does, Jude’s benediction for us of mercy, peace and love will be ours in abundance.
Collect for the First Week of Advent:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
