This Sunday we'll look at one of the most enigmatic characters in all of Scripture, John the Baptist. He is the one who prepares the way. Like all the prophets, The Baptist is an invitation, a path one can choose to trod or not.

Like any pavé, the message and very lives of the prophets beg a question, to where does this narrow road lead? The answer, we'll see, is a human being. The destination of Scripture isn't a concept to understand, it's a living breathing person to know.

Advent orients us to this reality, as we wait for the coming Messiah, but Anglican liturgy serves this prophetic function for us each week. The climax of our service isn't a sermon. We don't wait with bated breath for an exposition, as important as that is. We long for the body and blood of Jesus. We come for Jesus, and in Him we find something better than explanation, we find meaning.

I've always loved the conversion story of Nathanael. You may remember, upon hearing of Jesus from Philip, Nathanael asks "can anything good come from Israel?" Rather than engaging with this question, Philip responds, "come and see" Jesus!

As Nathanael approaches the Son of God, Jesus doesn’t immediately offer answers, though no doubt he saw the questions in his face. Instead, Jesus proclaims, “I saw you under the fig tree.” Perhaps Nathanael prayed under a fig tree as a child, or maybe he was under a fig tree that morning. In any case, Nathanael’s doubts turned to awe. He thought he would believe only if he could know, but he began to believe once he had been known. He came to see, he left having been seen.

In Advent, and in the Anglican liturgy, we experience the possibility of knowing and being known. It’s an encounter with the living Christ. Come and see!

Bishop Jones at St. Patrick’s

This Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent, Bishop Jones will be preaching at 9:00 a.m. at one of our Dallas church plants, St. Patrick’s, located just north of Lover’s Lane at 8200 Devonshire Dr. You are invited to worship with the St. Patrick’s congregation and their senior pastor, Rev. Mark Walz, and tour their facilities. They are worshiping at the Westminster Presbyterian Church building, a beautiful and welcoming space. We hope you can join us for worship and bless the St. Patrick’s community!

If there are no available parking spots in our lot, please use the parking lot across Cadiz. Our primary parking area experiences its highest occupancy between the transition from our 9:30 to 11 am service.