Advent, and the Spirit of Diotrophes

Episode 66: Comfort Comfort Ye my People


On this edition of Radical Grace, we start off by talking about the Advent hymn, Comfort Comfort ye my people, which is the opening theme music for our show.

Comfort, comfort ye My people,
Speak ye peace, thus saith our God;
Comfort those who sit in darkness,
Mourning ’neath their sorrow’s load;
Speak ye to Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits for them;
Tell her that her sins I cover,
And her warfare now is over.

For the herald’s voice is crying
In the desert far and near,
Bidding all men to repentance,
Since the kingdom now is here.
O that warning cry obey!
Now prepare for God a way!
Let the valleys rise to meet Him,
And the hills bow down to greet Him.

Yea, her sins our God will pardon,
Blotting out each dark misdeed;
All that well deserved His anger
He will no more see nor heed.
She has suffered many a day,
Now her griefs have passed away,
God will change her pining sadness
Into ever springing gladness.

Make ye straight what long was crooked,
Make the rougher places plain:
Let your hearts be true and humble,
As befits His holy reign,
For the glory of the Lord
Now o’er the earth is shed abroad,
And all flesh shall see the token
That His Word is never broken.


We also talk about an old concept, the Spirit of Diotrophes, presumably a spirit that causes an individual to divide over doctrine and to put people out of the church.

To listen to the show you can click on the play button, click on "Windows Media" to open in a new tab, or right click on "get mp3" and choose "save target as" to save to your computer.