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    Champions of the Faith: Three "A's" of Advent
    Champions of the Faith: Three "A's" of Advent
    Champions of the Faith: Three "A's" of Advent
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    Champions of the Faith: Three "A's" of Advent

    By Gordon A. Beck

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    About this ebook

    Champions of the Faith presents three Advent worship services with homilies based on the life and teachings of Athanasius, Ambrose, and Augustine. Through these homilies, you will meet these three champions of faith as if they lived today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateSep 26, 2012
    ISBN9781449780364
    Champions of the Faith: Three "A's" of Advent
    Author

    Gordon A. Beck

    While pursuing a Master’s of Sacred Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis during the 1990s, Gordon Beck grew fond of the lives and teachings of early church fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries.  Their willingness to search Scriptures to rebut the heresies of their day and their ability to craft their arguments by using classical philosophical terminology drove Mr. Beck to develop three Advent worship services based on the lives and teachings of St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine.  The author challenges the worshipper who participates in these services to think through the Incarnation of the Word in flesh in the way these fathers approached this saving event. He completed a Master’s in Philosophy and Literature at the New School University in New York in the early 1970s. This was beneficial in understanding the thought systems of these church fathers.  He has also secured an MDiv from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and has served parishes across the United states in the Bronx, New York; San Diego, California;  Des Peres, Missouri; Redding, California;  Vandalia, Missouri; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Clarence, New York;  Wilmington, North Carolina; Marshfield, Missouri;  and Black Jack, Missouri.  He has also taught theology at the Lutheran Seminary in Obot Idim, Nigeria. He is married to Sally, who has worked as an artist for Creative Communication for the Parish in Fenton, Missouri.  They have three grown children:  Andy, Gretchen, and Sarah, all of whom have taught on the college level. Mr. Beck enjoys writing poetry, swimming, golfing, and foreign travel.

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      Book preview

      Champions of the Faith - Gordon A. Beck

      Champions of the

      Faith

      Three A’s of Advent

      Gordon A. Beck

      logoBlackwTN.ai

      Copyright © 2012 by Gordon A. Beck.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-6662-7 (sc)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012916544

      WestBow Press rev. date: 09/24/2012

      Contents

      St. Athanasius

      About St. Athanasius

      The Order of Service

      St. Ambrose

      About St. Ambrose

      The Order of Service

      St. Augustine

      About St. Augustine

      The Order of Service

      Advent & Christmas Poems through the Years!

      St.Athanasius.JPG

      The First Week in Advent

      Early Church Fathers

      St. Athanasius

      AD 298-373

      About St. Athanasius

      Athanasius lived in a culturally rich city of Alexandria, Egypt. Little is known of his early life. What has been passed on to us is one story.

      One day, while playing beside the Mediterranean, he and his friends baptized each other. The bishop saw and heard them from his house nearby and asked the boys to come in. He asked them if they knew what they were doing. Athanasius’ answer was so thorough and profound that the bishop urged him to become a priest. He did. At the age of nineteen he wrote an essay entitled The Incarnation of the Word. It still stands as one of the classics in Christian literature. Written like a graduate school examination answer, he clarifies the Christian faith against the leading philosophies of his day. Although forced into exile more than five times, he tenaciously clung to the truth in the Nicene Creed that Jesus, when he became a man, was, yet, of the same substance with the Father. For this Christmas truth he was willing to die.

      The Order of Service

      The Opening Hymn Savior of the Nations Come

      by Ambrose

      The Invocation

      (In remembrance of their baptism worshippers may make the sign of the cross.)

      P: In the name of the Father and the + Son and the Holy Spirit.

      C: Amen

      The Lighting of the Advent Wreath

      (The first candle on the wreath is lit.)

      (Sung to the tune of Cradle Song)

      C: Come surely, Lord Jesus, as dawn follows night,

      Our hearts long to greet you, as roses, the light.

      Salvation, draw near us, our vision engage.

      One candle is lit for the hope of the age.

      One Candle is Lit

      words by Mary Anne Parrott, 1988, 1995 Chalice Press

      The Act of Adoration

      P: Let us adore our eternal, unchangeable Father God, who created us, who is behind all the events of history, who turns our losses into victories, who loves us with a faithful love through all circumstances of life, and who gives us the Light of lights in Christ Jesus, the Incarnate Word.

      C: We praise You through all the seasons of life, and we acknowledge You to be our Lord.

      P: Let us glory this evening in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who came from the Virgin Mary, was tempted in every way that we are, yet did not sin, who became obedient unto death, even a slave’s death on the cross, who rose victorious from death, and who sits on the right hand of the Father. He has promised to return unto himself all of us who live by faith in Him.

      C: You are God of gods, Light of lights, Very God of very God, begotten of one substance with the Father.

      P: Let us rejoice in the presence of the Holy Spirit among us, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who is given to us in our baptisms, whose witness confirms us, whose wisdom teaches us, whose power enables us to do far more than we can ask or think.

      C: You are the Lord of Life who seeks to recreate all things.

      The Act of Confession

      P: O eternal, holy God, since You have given us salvation through Your beloved Son, we confess with shame our attraction to the unholy promises of this world and our failure to see Your

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