Readings
for
Sunday, 10 December 2000
Second Sunday in Advent

Today's First Reading is from the Book of Baruch, beginning at the 5th Chapter and the 1st Verse:

Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever, wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor, you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship.

Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you, but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones. For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God. The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God's command; for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.

Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 126:

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

    When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
    we were like men dreaming.
    Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with rejoicing.

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

    Then they said among the nations,
    "The LORD has done great things for them."
    The LORD has done great things for us;
    we are glad indeed.

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

    Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
    like the torrents in the southern desert.
    Those who sow in tears
    shall reap rejoicing.

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

    Although they go forth weeping,
    carrying the seed to be sown,
    They shall come back rejoicing,
    carrying their sheaves.

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Today's Epistle is from the Letter of Paul to Philippians, beginning at the 1st Chapter, and the 4th Verse:

I pray always -- in every prayer of mine -- for you all -- making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

+ A Reading from the Gospel of Luke, beginning at the 3rd Chapter, and the 1st Verse:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness; and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

Sermon
for
Sunday, 10 December 2000
Second Sunday in Advent

"Prepare ye the Way of the Lord" -- behind today's First reading and Gospel stands the towering figure of the Prophet Isaiah, trumpeting the message of redemption -- calling us to prepare ourselves and the world for the coming of its Savior, who is about to be born again (as he is every year, month, day, hour, and second) -- both in Bethlehem and in our hearts. Isaiah is the Prophet of the Incarnation par excellence -- his is the voice that calls and exhorts, and storms. He prepares the way in the mind of Israel, fires the expectation of the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, who will introduce a whole new era, who will bring Heaven and Earth together.

"Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." All of the world -- not just humans, or their souls, shall be brought into the loving embrace of the Most HIgh -- transformed, renewed, exalted. The Redeemer is at hand, about to enter into the world -- not in glory, power, and might, but as a simple babe in a poor stable in a minor town of a small nation tucked away in the corner of the known world.

We, too, in this Advent season, are lost and depressed in the cold and darkness of the end of the year, lost in the thunders and images of the great, crushing, commercial world. We are assailed on every side with evils, and catastrophe, and politicians -- which make the plagues of Revelation pale by comparison. We know, however, that the Light is about to be born -- that a simple babe, born of a young woman will bring the love of God, the miracle of concern, and renewal of righteousness to our lives.

Let us then, with the Psalmist, sing: The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!

         In the Name of
        The Father     +
        And of the Son
        And of the Holy Spirit
Amen.

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