Benedictus, God’s Mighty Salvation: Luke 1:68-79
The second Sunday of Advent, December 8, arrived with the full force of an unexpected blizzard. While Liam Goligher preached “Benedictus, God’s Mighty Salvation” (from his Advent sermon series Christmas Canticles), focusing on Zachariah’s prayer of gratitude found in Luke 1:68-79, great big flakes of snow started blanketing Philadelphia and the surrounding region. Many of us struggled through treacherous walking or driving conditions—ice, snow, gnarled traffic, delayed public transportation—spending hours trying to reach our homes after the service. As difficult as yesterday’s ordeal may have been, I hope we all marveled with Zechariah at God’s “tender mercy” and mighty salvation. Yes, we were saved from the dangerous storm condtions we faced, but more importantly, a child “called the prophet of the Most High” has saved us from sin and death and hell.
You can watch the full service, including the beautiful Christmas anthems sung by Tenth Women’s Chorus and the sweet infant baptisms, on our Vimeo and YouTube channels.
Because of the inclement weather and treacherous conditions, the evening worship service was canceled.
Advent Resources
If you’re looking for some helpful reading during this Advent season, Marion Clark has a number of excellent Advent articles on DMC Resources. There you’ll find articles on a wide range of Advent-related topics:
- Advent Symbolism
- The Incarnation
- The Covenant
- The Birth of John
- The Birth of Jesus
- Redemption
- The Magi
- Joseph
- Rachel
At some point in the near future, we hope to have these articles housed in our own Resource Library. But for now we are grateful that Marion has written these articles and made them available to us.