Hi TCCo fam! Hope you had a good day today ☺️ It’s just 11 days to Christmas! Let’s continue to prepare our hearts as Christmas approaches.

Read: Luke 2:22-32 (Jesus Presented in the Temple Part 1)

In today’s passage, we learn about the next big event that happened in Jesus’s life since His birth. Just about 8 days after He had been born, Jesus took part in a purification and circumcision ceremony. In those days, purification and circumcision ceremonies were done as a reminder that all are born in sin and need to be made clean before God. However, wasn’t Jesus sinless from birth till death? Why did He still go through these ceremonies?

The fact that Jesus still underwent the purification ceremonies shows not just the obedience of His parents to the laws of Moses and their reverence of God, it also shows that a week into the life of Jesus, He was already being identified with sinners.

As aptly put by New Testament commentator Alexander Whyte,
“For He who knew no sin, and who never was to know sin, was already in His circumcision made sin for us. Mary’s firstborn son was a lamb without blemish and without spot, but before He was a week old, He began to bear the sins of many… And as He began in the temple that day, so He continued every day to lead a life of pain, and shame, and bloodshedding, for us, for our children, till He finished on the cross the sin-atoning work His Father had given Him to do.”

From the moment Jesus was born, He was marked to take on the sins of the world and redeem us at Calvary. “...the son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28). Remembering this afresh this day, what is your response to our Mighty Saviour, Jesus?

Reflect:
1. Meditate on Matt 20:28. How does this verse make you feel? Speak to God about it.

2. Are there unconfessed sins in your life that you need to bring to God? Come before God with these sins, knowing that you have been redeemed through the blood of Christ.

Hi TCCo fam! There’s just 10 days to Christmas!! 🥳🎄 Before you sleep, take some time to read the devotional we’ve prepared for you tonight

Read: Luke 2:33-39 (Jesus Presented in the Temple (Part 2) )

Today, we continue from where we left off yesterday in Luke. We know that it was revealed to Simeon, a righteous man of God, that the child that Mary held was going to be the Saviour of the world and a light to many (including the Gentiles!). For this reason, Simeon praised God and rejoiced greatly. He knew that God had been faithful in keeping His promises.

When Mary and Joseph heard all that was said about their child by Simeon, they “marvelled” (v33) at it. Bit by bit, Mary and Joseph were coming to understand just how incredible the baby they held in their arms was. It also definitely filled them with joy to see how God was touching the lives of others through an understanding of their baby boy. Likewise, we may know Jesus well, but there is always something special about seeing the lives of others be changed and transformed as they come to know Christ for themselves.

At the end of today’s passage, we also read that Jesus grew and became strong in spirit and full of wisdom. It is heartening to see that apart from growing in stature like other children, Jesus’s spiritual development is also focused on here. Just as Jesus grew spiritually as he developed from a child to an adult, we too should not neglect growing spiritually as we age. Maturity through acquiring life experience is not enough, we need to also grow to become spiritually mature by continually looking to God each day.

Reflect:

1. This Christmas, is there anyone in your life that you would like to share Christ with? Bring these people to God in prayer and pray for opportunities to share the gospel at the right time and place.

2. How might we emulate Jesus and grow to become more spiritually mature each day?

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Hi everyone! In the past 7 days, we’ve slowly worked through the first 2 chapters of Luke and revisited the story of the birth of Jesus. In the next 7 days (17 - 23 Dec), we will be following an age-old tradition and focusing on the “O antiphons”. Just in case you’ve never heard of antiphons, today we will go into a brief introduction of antiphons before we begin proper tomorrow! We pray that you will continue to join us on this journey and be blessed by the antiphons we will focus on each day 😊.

Listen to: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (https://open.spotify.com/track/1rUwQ9nkNoKctz3wAurcGM?si=XyGCEotwRJqQZMkrbf_duQ)

The hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is a popular one that is often sung during advent. However, did you know that this 18th century hymn’s lyrics come from what is known as the “O Antiphons” of the ancient church?

Simply put, an antiphon is a short phrase, usually taken from Scripture, that is sung as a refrain before and after a psalm. In the same way, the O Antiphons are a series of seven antiphons beginning with “O”, (used since the 8th century!), that are used in the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve, with a different antiphon proclaimed each day.

So, what’s so significant about the O Antiphons? Well, Advent means “coming”. In this season, Christians prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ, and in some ways, we put ourselves in the shoes of ancient Israel and cry “Come, Jesus, come!”. As Israel waited for their Messiah eagerly, we, too, wait in great anticipation for his second coming. Advent reminds us not only of how God fulfilled His promise to the Israelites by sending Jesus the Messiah, but it also pushes us into the future with confidence, knowing that our new prayer will be answered too.

In this way, the O Antiphons signal an intensification for the longing for Christ as we await the celebration of Christmas. As they are only proclaimed in this one week, these antiphons are extra special. Deriving from the prophecies of Isaiah, they refer to the various titles given to the Messiah, the God who will save Israel. They tell of the history of salvation - how God has never abandoned his people even in the darkest of times, and how He will continue to fulfil His promises to us.

Now that you know a little more about Antiphons, we hope that you will eagerly anticipate each day’s antiphon and join us as we prepare for Christmas together!

Reflect:

1. What does the season of Advent mean to you?

2. Now that there are just 9 days left to Christmas, how can we better prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christ’s arrival on Earth?

Just 8 days to Christmas! Today we begin the first of our 7 antiphons - join us as we reflect upon today’s antiphon: “O Saptientia (O Wisdom)”

Read:
(This can also be sung to the melody “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”!

“O Come, O Wisdom from on high,
who orders all things mightily,
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.”

The antiphon here is a brief summary of the wisdom tradition of the Bible. Notice that the antiphon says that wisdom orders all things. This refers to the obvious fact that there is an order in all of creation. Things work together intricately on many levels. The microscopic level of atoms, molecules, and cells is the foundational matter of an amazing interplay of delicately balanced realities that make possible complex systems of higher life and matter.

All of this magnificent interplay of systems, this balance and design, is what the wisdom tradition extols, and what the antiphon describes as coming forth from the mouth of God to order all things mightily and sweetly.

Wisdom was with God in the beginning of all things. She was there when the circle of the seas was written on the deep waters, and she is there now, crying out to us to turn and seek after the Lord. Wisdom is something after which we all seek. But wisdom is something more than just an acute understanding of how to get along in the world. It is more than common sense and street smarts. These words from Scripture remind us that wisdom is rooted in the Lord. Wisdom is the One who comes to be with us, the One who was there when we were made, the One who became for us righteousness and sanctification and redemption in order that we might know God.

Reflect

1. What's the difference between God’s wisdom and the wisdom of the world?

2. Take a moment or two to rest in this revelation of God’s eternal wisdom—the love offerings of Jesus in Bethlehem and Calvary. Rest in the immensity of God’s profound love for you.

(Adapted from devotional by All Saints’ United Methodist Church)

Hi TCCo fam!! Hope you’ve had a blessed Saturday! Can you believe it - we started at 25 but we’re now just down to 7 days until Christmas! 🎄😬😄

As we continue preparing our hearts, we move on to the second antiphon: “O Adonai (O Lord)”.

Read/ Sing to tune of “O Come O Come Emmanuel”:

O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might!
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did give the law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.

This antiphon speaks of Jesus as Lord and Ruler.

“Lord” is the name that the people of God used in place of the four-letter name too sacred to pronounce (YHWH). And yet, that same Lord made covenant with a people. God bound God’s self in relationship with a people, a people who often rebelled and disobeyed and turned away from God.

In this covenant God gave the people the law as the ways to live with God among them. The Lord delivered them from bondage to Pharaoh and unending slavery. He went before them with arm outstretched. Then the Lord came as a shepherd. He came in the form of a servant, as one born in a manger. Foreign kings feared him and wise men came looking for him, and yet he was wrapped in thin blankets and laid in a cow trough.

What a strange Lord we have, full of beautiful contradictions. He came among the flames of a burning bush and the thunder of Sinai’s mount. He came in Mary’s womb and on the wood of the cross. He comes even now in the bread and the wine. And now as we eagerly anticipate Christmas, we cry, “Come, Lord, come and save your covenant people once more!”

Reflect:
1. Am I seeking after a relationship with God?

2. What can I do to prepare myself for a deeper relationship with Christ?

(Adapted from devotional by All Saints’ United Methodist Church)

6 days to Christmas! ☺️ Today’s antiphon is “O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)”.

Read:
(This can also be sung to the melody “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”!

“O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree, An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.”

This antiphon stresses the historical roots of the Gospel in and among the Jewish people, whom God chose long ago to be the root, the vine, and eventually the very cradle of His saving love for all the nations.

The Lord promises the people a great ruler, one who will come from the house of David, Israel’s beloved king. In Isaiah 11, Isaiah tells us that this kingdom of David son of Jesse would be destroyed. The people of God will be scattered for their disobedience and sin. As the darkness grows, as the people turn further away from God, the sounds of destruction and war grow louder, the people are scattered among the nations of the world.

Even after destruction, a root remains. From this root grows the tree of our salvation. But roots are sometimes small and unnoticed. Hidden in the earth, the life, the promise waits in the roots for spring. Christ, the Root of Jesse, does not come as we expect. He comes hidden in Mary’s womb, not as the conquering king we might have hoped for. But we also know that no matter how messy our lives become, no matter how tossed about we are by the ways of the world, we can cling to this sure and deep root. This tender shoot is an ensign, a rallying flag for all peoples that becomes the mighty tree of a great kingdom open to all.

Reflect

1. What must be cut out of my life to make way for Christ?

2. What am I hoping for this Advent?

(Adapted from devotional by All Saints’ United Methodist Church)

Just 5 days to Christmas! ☺️ Today’s antiphon is “O Clavis David (O Key of David)”.

Read:

(This can also be sung to the melody “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”!

“O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery”

Keys are the things which open doors and shut them. Jesus is the Key of creation, of new life and new possibility. He can open our prisons and free us. He can also lock the city gates for our safety. What He opens, none may close, and what He locks away, none may open.

In Christ, God entered our history. He entered our lives, unlocking them in the ways only he can. To His church he gave the keys of the kingdom, to bind and to loosen.

So today we praise the authority of the Messiah with the symbol of a key, as we ask Him to unlock the prisons of darkness and the chains of sin and death that still bind us. We ask Him to free us from our boredom, from our selfishness, from our power to harm others, and from our bent toward sin. We ask Him to bind the evil powers of the world, to lock them up and cast them into the outer darkness. And what He frees, none may bind up again. For He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

Reflect

1. What can Christ free me from that is keeping me from loving Him and loving my neighbour more freely?

(Adapted from devotional by All Saints’ United Methodist Church)

4 days left to Christmas ☺️☃️🎄 Today’s antiphon is O Oriens (O Dayspring).

Read:
(This can also be sung to the melody “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”!

“O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.”

In the beginning God spoke a word and the light sprang into being. The light fills all of creation with warmth, just as the sun warms the earth grown cold during the long night.

All of creation, our lives included is the daily and ever present act of the Son who fills all things with the light of life. He is the Dayspring from on high. He came into the world to bring light to those who sit in darkness. How often do we live in the shadow of death? How often do we think we can hide from God and from one another in the shadows of our own thoughts and actions? He sheds a cleansing, powerful light on all things.

Nothing escapes his power and presence, like the glorious light of the dawning sun that chases away darkness, disease, and doubt. He chases away the chill of our selfishness and desire. Instead, he fills out lives with warmth and life abundant.

Reflect
1. Where do I need Christ’s light most in my life?

2. Where and when am I trying to hide in the shadows?

(Adapted from devotional by All Saints’ United Methodist Church)

Just 3 more days to Christmas!! 😱😱🎄🎄☺️ Today’s antiphon is “O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)”

Read:
(This can also be sung to the melody “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”!

“O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind; Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, And be Thyself our King of Peace.”

Through Jesus, we are given space to become God’s people. We often forget that the promise of a Messiah came to Israel, God’s chosen people among the nations. And we were Gentiles, outsiders, unclean and apart. We were not Israel.

But in Jesus, all the nations, all the peoples of the world find their one true king. In him we are bound together with all other people. No longer are we separated from one another, for we are made one in his body. There are no longer Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free. All are one in him.

This is not just a nice idea. This is a powerful, sometimes painful unity. When our brothers or sisters suffer, we suffer. When our brothers or sisters rejoice, we rejoice. Look around you, at the people closest to you. In this King who comes, we become one. Though we are many, we are made one as we share in the body of the King of Peace.

Reflect
1. How do I separate myself from others?

2. How am I breaking the body of Christ with hate, with evil words and actions?

(Adapted from devotional by All Saints’ United Methodist Church)

2 more days to Christmas!! 🎄🎄☺️ Today’s antiphon is “O Emmanuel (God With Us)”

Read:
(This can also be sung to the melody “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”!

“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.”

Never in a million years could we imagine that God would want to be this close to us. In fact, we would often prefer God would stay away. We like thinking that God might be watching occasionally, but we don’t care for the idea that God would come so close to us as to be born among us, walking with us in our flesh.

But this is the great scandal of our faith: God wants to be with us so much that God would come in the flesh. The one who made all things and without whom not one thing came into being has come among us to save us.

We could have never made this up on our own. We could not imagine this good news by ourselves: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him ‘Emmanuel.’”, which means “God with us” This is the good news of Christmas, the name of our salvation, our lives, our wholeness, our perfection.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, remembered this great truth again in the last minutes of his life: “Best of all, God is with us.”

Reflect
1. Am I ready to receive Christ?

2. What is keeping me from receiving him and the life He brings?

(Adapted from devotional by All Saints’ United Methodist Church)