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1st 2nd & 3rd Comings


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#1 Tony Davison

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Posted 19 November 2021 - 02:53 PM

  1st 2nd & 3rd Comings

by Street Hope Saint John

This is by a classmate of mine and have known him since 1965, when we graduated from grade 8 in 1968 he was Voted must likely to end up in Jail, but God had other plans. Tony Davison

 

This Advent I have decided to spend time meditating (thinking) on the three ‘comings’ of Christ.

The first coming is describe in John chapter one “The Word,” the pre-existing Second Person of the Godhead, “became flesh.” Hands which flung stars into space, now tiny, reached to grasp a virgin mother. The mind-blowing descent of Christ exemplified in the Incarnation deserves much thought and awe inspired worship. Each year I feel that we too quickly pass over the enormity of this event. The Creator of the Cosmos taking up residence in a creche. The condescending love of God, ought to fill us with a joy inexpressible and full of glory.

The second, and often overlooked coming, is less cosmic and more personal. At some point the Saviour comes to each individual. We come to know him as Saviour and acknowledge Him as Lord in our personal life. In the words of the Carol “Where needy will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.” Jesus comes to each of us with his wonderous gift of love and life, and though he never departs (nothing can separate us from the love of God) we stray, and we experience his ‘coming’ again and again! It is this ‘coming’ that is often ignored, but without this second personal coming and persistent staying where would we be? This ‘coming’ make effectual the first ‘coming.’ In his original birth announcement Jesus is proclaimed “Saviour and Lord” and in this second personal experience this coming makes it so, for each of us. As an Evangelist my calling is to draw people to an awareness of the possibility of this ‘coming’ and to persuade people to co-operate with this ‘coming.’

This second ‘coming’ is also the coming by which Jesus comes to his Church (those who have experienced his personal second ‘coming’) and through and in partnership with the Church He engages in putting right that which has gone so wrong. He is active in this mode to bring love and justice as his Bride the Church moves in concert with him.

The third ‘coming’ is often referred to as “The Second Coming.” This is an event in the future in which the Ascended Christ returns not meek and mild but in majesty and glory! He will come to finally and completely put things right. This future coming fills his Bride with hope and purpose. During the time of his incarnation Jesus asked about this return “Will he find faith?” The Church actively waits and works so that corporately we can answer in the affirmative.

In our darkest moments we take comfort in this ‘coming.’ Though we experience injustice and pain it is transitory. As we meditate (think) on these things we are inspired to worship and work and witness.

Advent gives us a season to ponder these very things so that we can engage in these three great tasks.

 



#2 Candice

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Posted 21 November 2021 - 09:51 PM

Tony,
This is a lovely piece of writing and thought provoking --good to meditate on, and I certainly be reading it again over the next month.
Thank you for sharing
Christ's Grace to you!
Candice
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#3 Tony Davison

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Posted 05 June 2022 - 06:46 AM

 

Make Me a Blesser By Reed Fleming

In the spring of the year, we delight in seeing signs of hope and growth. These signs hearten us as we shake off the affects of winter hibernation. The first crocus, the forsythia bush with its yellow burgeons or the greening lawns whisper at first and then shout, “New Life is on the way!” Such is ‘the Rite of Spring.’ It is an exhilarating time!

I was witness to another delightful sign of hope. It was ‘a sign’  of new life and hope for the local church. A group of about a dozen very ordinary people gather weekly to study a book, “BLESS” by David and Jon Ferguson. It is not just that we are studying this book together, but the excitement involved! There is a palpable commitment and enthusiasm to be a blessing.

God’s original commitment to Abraham was that Abraham would be blessed and that he would be a blessing to the rest of the world. The Fergusons propose that God has not changed strategies. God’s desire for the Church is that we bless the world so God might be glorified.

They follow two missionary groups. One is a group of ‘Converters.’ This group was determined to faithfully preach the Word of God so people would hear and respond in faith. The other group were ‘Blessers.’ This group sought to love people and bless them in Jesus’ Name. At the end of the missions the ‘Converters’ had extremely limited success but the ‘Blessers’ reported many more conversions. Blessing rather than converting proved the more effective way!

This past week we read about the importance of prayer in being a blesser. It is after all, only God who can bless! Beginning with prayer puts ‘the horse before the cart.’ Praying also involves us in listening. Jesus says, “My sheep know my voice..” By asking who and how we can bless we discern our Great Shepherd’s voice. We read story after story of people who listened and acted on decided that  the Shepherd’s voice. Then we regaled each other with our own experiences. By the end we decided that enlisting the ‘supernatural’ ought to be the most natural of things for us.

We parted with a commitment to put this to the test in our own lives and to report back next week about our experiences. I am filled with that ‘springtime’ hope. I see signs of a fresh awakening to the possibilities of God blessing our families, neighbourhoods, and community as we seek to bless! This is the very kind of awakening that birthed the early Church. Ordinary people who have experienced God’s blessing choosing to bless others, only the mind of God could conceive such a life-bringing strategy.



#4 Tony Davison

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Posted 17 March 2023 - 09:42 AM

No Fishing ?

by Street Hope Saint John

Have you ever been asked, “What are you giving up for Lent?”? This year I am advocating that we ‘take up’ a Lenten practise. In fact I am encouraging one particular and seemingly long forgotten practise, that goes back to the very formation of our Faith Movement.

Jesus initial call to discipleship was a call follow after Him and be made “fishers of men”. Now we might have preferred that Jesus called us to be better humans or holy people, but his primitive call is to ‘fish’! Please do not hear what I am not saying, Jesus is keenly interested in  making us better and holier people but the first call is to ‘fish’. Our Christ-like character is developed somewhere between those two markers, birth and death. Finally, we are raised incorruptible and that work will be completed as we are made like Him. Our battle against: sin, the flesh and the devil, will be swallowed up in Christ’s final victory. So this sanctifying work of God in our lives is bounded by the limits of our time on this earth.

Fishing on the other hand allows us to partner in an activity affecting eternity.

When the disciples respond to this call to follow and be made fishers they have little idea of what that means, and they surrender to Jesus Lordship and vocation for their lives. It becomes clear from this initial encounter that following will necessarily involve fishing.

I do not intend to ‘lay a guilt trip’ on anyone or prescribe how you ought to fish, but I do want to encourage you in the knowledge that God is taking all you’re your experiences good and bad to ‘make you a fisher’. You have opportunity in your circle to live a life of following before your friends and neighbours that a religious professional never will. God has prepared a particular pool for you. He has given you a particular story, of failure and success, of suffering and joy, glorious and messy! All the elements are in place!

Cast your mind back. Think about the individual who influenced your journey to God or your return to God. That person had a particular place in your life and when the time and circumstances were right they were used to ‘fish’ you. We were all once fish but following means fishing! God has a plan for us to be useful for eternity through the ancient spiritual practice of  being ‘made a fisher.’

I joked recently that the things we do in Lent are actually things we ought to do all the time. Here is a Lenten practice I encourage us to add to our repertoire. Let us follow in such a way that Christ makes us fishers with eternal purpose and impact.

Reed Fleming

A Class mate of Mine from grade 6 to 10