Marking the season
Kenneth Koole reflects on the theological significance and historical practice of observing the Advent season in Reformed churches, examining why Scottish Presbyterian and other Calvinist traditions rejected the liturgical calendar as insufficiently biblical and tainted by Roman Catholic practices. The article connects the yearly marking of Christ's first advent to anticipation of His second coming in glory, while exploring tensions between Reformed convictions about worship practices and the pastoral value of seasonal observance.
Love. Peace. Joy. Hope. Four words that appear on almost every year-end Christmas or holiday greeting card sent and received. Wonderful words and appropriate. But also, very exclusive. But more on that later. What strikes me is that if the church of Christ was going to mark yearly God's great redemptive event of the Advent (the promise and birth of the Messiah, the Christ), year's end is the best time. Not the middle of July or sometime in August or such like, but year's end, as the...
Full article available on sb.rfpa.org