Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 • Ezekiel 36:24-28 • Mark 11:27-33
Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers, healed the sick, raised the dead, added forgiveness as a key element of prayer, and the religious rulers asked him by what authority he acted. Exousia: authority; strength and power resident within the one who exercises it, authority to which others are compelled to submit.
The pandemic, racial reckoning, political chaos, and the death of my youngest son have engendered meditation about the authority of God in Jesus Christ. Each realm of authority to which we have been humanly acclimated has been shaken to its core. But, Jesus endued with the Holy Spirit, has ushered in the Kingdom of God with the authority and power, that is resident within Him.
esus, son of David, Lord of the universe, Son of God, Emmanuel, Christ, embodies God’s will for humanity: divine health, freedom from the oppression of the evil one, forgiveness, and an economy of plenty. In God’s kingdom, the poor inherit the earth, the last are first, servants are great, children are embraced, disease and demonic oppression are banished. Jesus, triumphant king, entered on an ass, conquering death by His resurrection and ascends to God’s right hand of authority. Now, we, kingdom dwellers have Jesus’ authority working within us to usher in the kingdom of God.
God, restore the earth to good. This Advent, as all is shaken, we receive your unshakable Kingdom with authority. Amen!
Jennifer Cumberbatch
MHC Class of 2018
Pastor/Advisor
Agape Christian Ministries
Jennifer Cumberbatch is a pastor, counselor, actress and playwright from Austin, the owner and founder of JR Cumberbatch Productions, and Cumberbatch Confections. Jennifer is sent out from Agape Christian Ministries, where she was an associate pastor, to found and establish Full Measure Ministries. She has written, starred in, staged and produced several productions, in Austin and throughout Texas. She has starred in her one woman show “R3: Real Life, Real Women, Real Stories”, “and performed as “Sadie” Delany in “Having our Say, the Delany Sisters First 100 Years”, and Sally Burditt in “The Bluebellies in Austin: Readings from the Travis Country Slave Narratives”. And, will complete in November, a year long series of live productions with the embedded art of the artist, Ginger Geyer (a graduate of Seminary of the Southwest), called “If These Walls Could Talk”, which honors the enslaved people associated with Austin’s historic Neill-Cochran House Museum. Jennifer worked with and was directed by the late and venerable Boyd Vance, graduate of St Stephen’s Episcopal school, founder and artistic director of the now-defunct Pro Arts Collective. The Boyd Vance Theater at Austin’s Carver museum is named after this great artist and visionary and is the inspiration for Jennifer’s Production Company and passion to tell the stories of African Americans, Black people, and all peoples with authenticity and depth in the context of the American landscape. A graduate of Brown University and Austin’s Seminary of the Southwest, Jennifer also preaches, teaches, leads retreats, and is a vocalist and published writer.
The Advent Meditations and Prayers are a gift to our seminary community and are made possible through gifts to our Annual Fund. Seminary of the Southwest appreciates the support of its friends, alumni, and the communities around the world that its graduates serve for the glory of God. This support ensures that Southwest, as an institution made of individuals dedicated to service to God and their fellow members of the body of Christ, can continue doing its part to build the body of Christ.
