G. Archer Frierson
Austin Seminary Board of Trustees
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Advent Devotional for December 16
• Revelation 3:7-13
We have a new baby in our family. She sleeps so soundly in our arms. We put her gently in her little bed, and then, very shortly, she cries. In her squalls, I hear, “Wake up! Wake up! Have you forgotten me?” Mary will know this experience soon enough. Baby Jesus will disrupt her sleep. Jesus the Christ will keep disrupting sleepers through his whole life, and even thereafter. His friend John means to disrupt the seemingly complacent church in Sardis with his words in Revelation 3:1-6.
The Sardinian church had “the name of being alive,” but their reputation was not enough to keep them alive. A few continued to do Christ’s work—there were those whose “clothes were not soiled” by straying to false gods— but the church was indistinguishable from those seduced by the gods of the culture around them. The life of Christ was drifting away as they kept up appearances. Speaking Christ’s words, John writes to them, “Wake up! Have you forgotten me?” He urges them to remember what they have heard and received, repent for being lulled into complacency, and hold fast to the revelation they have seen. If they do not, their life will be stolen, and they won’t even know it until it’s too late to save it.
What is it exactly that John says they have forgotten? Dr. Brian K. Blount makes it plain, “Revelation’s rev-elation is that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is that simple and that straightforward. Jesus Christ is the Lord of human history, the director of human destiny, the controller of human fortune. Jesus is Savior, Redeemer, transformer, and Lord.”
We love our family’s new baby beyond reason, yet caring for new life can be hard and inconvenient; it demands attention and diligence. In this Advent season, we prepare ourselves to receive once again the one who will disrupt our comfort forever and bring us salvation, redemption, and transformation. If you have forgotten, wake up! Remember the gift we have received.
Ms. Melissa Wiginton
Vice President for Education Beyond the Walls and Research Professor in Methodist Studies
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.We hope that you are preparing the way for the Lord in your life as you read these meditations and prayers. And, we hope this Advent season is a meaningful one for you. Please know that Austin Seminary’s dedicated, diverse, and loving community of faith is not complete without you. Did you know?
• Students in our masters-degree programs receive up to 85% need-based tuition aid.
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• Our students come from more than a dozen denominations.
• Our alumni serve in ministry in forty-eight U.S. states as well as in twenty different countries across the world.
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