1st Sunday of Advent
This Sunday's Summary
The season of Advent begins this Sunday in the Armenian Church. Advent means “coming”—the coming of Christ. It is the 50-day period of focus and preparation to greet the Christmas arrival of the Lord into history and into our lives. We often forget that the season of gift-giving began because of God’s great gift of his Son, his very heart, for the life world. In order to recover the ‘reason for the season’ we must prioritize this gift, which is the subject of today’s Gospel reading. Jesus says ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things shall be yours as well.’ There is a law of the spiritual life, that if we put first things first, the rest will fall into place. If we don’t, we risk losing everything.
This Sunday's Readings
Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 36:1-9
Nowit came to pass in the fourteenth year of King HezekiahthatSennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.Then the king of Assyria senttheRabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.AndEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household,Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.
ThentheRabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust?I say you speak of having plans and power for war; butthey aremere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?Look! You are trusting in thestaff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. SoisPharaoh king of Egypt to all whotrust in him.
“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in theLordour God,’is itnot He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” ’Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them!How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
Epistle Reading
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Paul,Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of theThessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peacefrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,remembering without ceasingyour work of faith,labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,knowing, beloved brethren,your election by God.Forour gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power,and in the Holy Spiritand in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
Andyou became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction,with joy of the Holy Spirit,so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.For from you the word of the Lordhas sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but alsoin every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.For they themselves declare concerning uswhat manner of entry we had to you,and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,andto wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead,evenJesus who delivers usfrom the wrath to come.
Gospel Reading
Luke 12:13-31
Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
But He said to him,“Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”And He said to them,“Take heed and beware ofcovetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying:“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.And I will say to my soul,“Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease;eat, drink,andbe merry.” ’But God said to him, ‘Fool! This nightyour soul will be required of you;then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
“Soishe who lays up treasure for himself,and is not rich toward God.”
Then He said to His disciples,“Therefore I say to you,do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.Life is more than food, and the bodyis morethan clothing.Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; andGod feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?If you then are not able to dotheleast, whyare you anxious for the rest?Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, evenSolomon in all his glory was notarrayed like one of these.If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much morewill He clotheyou, Oyouoflittle faith?
“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Fatherknows that you need these things.But seekthe kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
This Sunday's Lesson Plans
Ages 5-8
Ages 9-14
Ages 14-17
This Sunday's Sermons
This Season's Saints
Saturday, Dec 12
St. James of Nisibis
Saturday, Dec 19