Reclaiming Our Angels' Wings
1st Advent: Hope and Faith
For this first Advent, we will focus on hope and Faith as a spiritual practice, leading us to the birth of our Divinity (Christ) within. As we learn about the meaning of Angel Gabriel appearing to Mother Mary, we commence our journey together from the promise and prophecy of Salvation to the conception and then the ultimate realization of our Divine Expression in life.
As a treat, we will be coordinating our Sunday lessons with our Youth and Family Ministry so that we move into this Holiday season as one community. We invite all families, young and more advanced in age, to join us in Unity for these upcoming weeks.
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Sermon Notes
1st Advent
Theme
Hope & Faith
Scripture
"Christ in you, the hope of glory.” —Colossians 1:27
Poem
Hope
by Rev. Toni Stephens Coleman
Ah, Hope—
Are you planted in my genes somewhere? You push me into unknown places
Give me discovery and strides
I never would have taken.
Ah, Hope—
Are you Thought? Emotion? Impulse? From where do you come
That you cause me to do anyway
What I want to do but don’t always know?
Ah, Hope—
Are you what seeds my life action
To stretch and expand to become More aware, more alive, more
That can be desired and Be More Me?
Ah, Hope—
When you are pushed down
When you are trod upon
You are strengthened and push back Between the cracks to find a way, To make a way, to be a way—
To be—Hope.
Main Scripture
The Birth of Jesus Foretold (Luke 1:26–38 NRSVUE)
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”[b] 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”[c] 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[d] will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Supporting Scripture
“To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” —Colossians 1:27
“And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” —1 Corinthians 13:13
“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees?” —Romans 8:24
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” —Hebrews 11:1
Metaphysical Interpretations
MBD (Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, Charles Fillmore)
RW (Revealing Word, Charles Fillmore)
angel (RW)—Thought of the Lord (Luke 1:11). Our angels are our spiritual perceptive faculties, which ever dwell in the presence of the Father (Matt. 13:49).
wings (RW)—Symbolize freedom from material limitations.
Gabriel (MBD)—Gabriel signifies man in realization and demonstration of his I AM power and might, unified with his inner faculties and elevated to conscious and manifest oneness with God. This man will rule the universe…Gabriel could also be said to refer to the masculine or wisdom phase of the divine in man. The masculine contacts the love (feminine, soul, Mary) phase of man's spiritual nature, and causes man to become conscious of the Christ in himself, to the end that the individual may bring this Christ into expression and manifestation.
Mary (MBD)—The feminine, the soul, the affectional and emotional phase of man's being, both when seemingly bound and limited by sensate thought, and in its freed, exalted state…Mary, the mother of Jesus, represents the soul that magnifies the Lord "daily in the temple" and through its devotions prepares itself for the higher life. She signifies the divine motherhood of love. She can also be said to be intuition.
Joseph (MBD)—Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, represent wisdom and love, which have been ideas in mind but are now to bring forth a manifestation in substance (Luke 2:4, 5)…Joseph was merely betrothed to Mary…This means that we do not in the first stages of the birth of Christ in us understand the process, and sometimes are moved to put it away from us. The soul is heavily charged with divine life, and so full that it cannot express itself intelligently, because no union has yet taken place between it and the understanding (Joseph).
Jesus (MBD)—The I in man, the self, the directive power, raised to divine understanding and power--the I AM identity…Jesus represents God's idea of man in expression; Christ is that idea in the absolute. Jesus Christ was the type man, which includes all the mental phases through which man passes in demonstrating life's problems. So we find Jesus Christ passing through all the trials, temptations, and mental variations of each of us, "yet without sin," that is, not falling under the dominion of evil thoughts. The experiences of each individual are in miniature the experiences of all.
Christ (MBD)—Christ is the divine-idea man. Jesus is the name that represents an individual expression of the Christ idea. Jesus Christ is the form of the name that is commonly applied to the man of Galilee who demonstrated perfection. Christ Jesus is the idea that is being expressed by men as the result of their faith in and understanding of Truth.
Christ, the birth of (MBD)—The birth of Christ in man is the bringing to consciousness of the spiritual idea of man the Christ of God--through the quickening power of the word of Truth.
second coming (RW)—The second coming is the result of building the principles of Being into the soul of man, where they begin to express through him.
