This week’s Readings and Sermon for the Second Sundat of Advent
The Advent Collect
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Collect for This Week
Almighty God, purify our hearts and minds, that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again as judge and saviour we may be ready to receive him, who is our Lord and our God. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
Father in heaven, who sent your Son to redeem the world and will send him again to be our judge: give us grace so to imitate him in the humility and purity of his first coming that, when he comes again, we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Psalm 72, verses 1 to 7 and 18 to 19
1 Give the king your judgements, O God, and your righteousness to the son of a king. 2 Then shall he judge your people righteously and your poor with justice. 3 May the mountains bring forth peace, and the little hills righteousness for the people. 4 May he defend the poor among the people, deliver the children of the needy and crush the oppressor. 5 May he live as long as the sun and moon endure, from one generation to another. 6 May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, like the showers that water the earth. 7 In his time shall righteousness flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more. 18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful things. 19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever. May all the earth be filled with his glory. Amen. Amen.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 11, verses 1 to 10
1 A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Letter St Paul to the Romans, Chapter 15 verses 4 to 13
4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name’; 10 and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’; 11 and again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him’; 12 and again Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.’ 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 3, verses 1 to 12
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Luke Glory to You, o Lord !
1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” ’
4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ !
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
The sermon this week is delivered by Rev. Laura Brinicombe
Advent is a season of preparation. A time of getting ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas but also a time when we examine how ready we are to receive Jesus when He returns in glory!
Our readings today are full of vibrant images, they’re bold and loud! They’re flashing at us at this time of year to grab our attention, to help us to stop procrastinating and making excuses – Jesus is coming back as divine ruler and judge and we need to be ready!
In our Gospel reading John the Baptist is announcing the fulfilment of God’s great promise.
John is declaring that the king is coming back! The kingdom is at hand! This is a message the Jewish people had waited to hear. God had promised forgiveness and healing, had promised to rescue and
bring peace - the Israelites had been passing these promises on through the generations since their exile. So, although Christmas is very important, this is really where Jesus’ story begins – He’s about to step
out and take His place on the stage. John wants everyone else to get into position before the curtain goes up and it’s too late.
There’s just one problem. When the moment finally arrives. Nobody is ready!
I wonder if we can relate to this? Do we feel ready to meet Jesus today? Ready to receive Him into our lives? To push our plans aside and make way for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? When we think of Jesus’ return are we excited? Overjoyed? I certainly hope so! But are there also some things that still weigh on us? Do we have distracted hearts and lives that might need a bit more time to prepare?
Thankfully, our scene includes four very powerful pictures that can help us to get ready for Jesus this advent. We’ve got a road, some water, some fire and an axe.
ROAD:
The most important is the road.
When John announces Christ the Kings’ arrival to the world, nothing is in place! There’s not even a road for Him to enter in on – a new one is going to have be laid. But this road isn’t made of tarmac. This road will being to be formed when people line up next to each other, all together, and turn to face the right way. John tells those gathered at the edge of the river Jordan that to be ready for Jesus, they must repent. Repent means ‘turn back’ or ‘return.’ The word has a physical sense to it – you can practice making this movement now if you would like – imagine you’re looking all around, searching in lots of different directions but then you ‘repent’ and you turn your whole body to face God’s way - heart, mind and soul. Repentance means adopting that new position and walking in that new way.
This advent, let’s ask ourselves which way we’re facing? Have we found ourselves pulled all over the place lately? If we feel far from God and we want to welcome Him – maybe for the first time - then we can chose a new direction right now, today. And we’re reminded to repeat this process, returning again and again, every time we lose our bearings. If you have a candle or a bible on a shelf in your home, you might want to practice that turning movement when you pray, to help remind you to keep coming back to Jesus.
WATER:
Next we’ve got water. When the people heard John’s call ‘to re-turn,’ they came to be baptised. This washing with water was symbolic, it showed how individuals were being made ready for God’s kingdom by their sin (all that would separate them from God) being cleansed away and made new.
But the water in our reading is about more than just individual people being prepared. Over a thousand years earlier, the Israelites had crossed the Jordan when they first entered and conquered the promised land. Now, John was calling them to go back into the river again because a greater conquest was coming! They were to be prepared, not just for the rescue of Israel, but because God’s salvation plan for the whole world was taking place – God’s defeat of evil and the establishment of His kingdom on earth, as in heaven.
So, the water points to how Jesus’ followers need to be ready for the task ahead. We know that Jesus has secured victory on the cross but we are still waiting for Him to return and make all things new. The water is a reminder that we have a role in the building of the kingdom. When we are raised up from the water, we are given a new life, so that we can do things differently. Is there a kingdom-building action we feel God calling us to take today? Have we been putting it off? Let’s not delay – we’re to step up and join Jesus in His mission to love, to heal, to forgive and to protect the world, right now.
FIRE & AXE:
Finally, we’ve got the burning fire and the chopping axe.
In our passage, John’s words to the religious leaders are especially harsh – his main criticism is that they pride themselves on a cultural kind of faith. They have a warped view of themselves that is preventing them from being ready for Jesus. And they use any excuse to exclude, judge, put up barriers and prevent those they deem unworthy from coming to know God.
John challenges the view the religious leaders have of themselves – his fiery words are intended to cut their confidence down to size. John hacks away at their assumption that their ancestry, simply being born a ‘son of Abraham,’ will ensure they are in right relationship with God. John warns them that this will not get them ready. Being ready for the coming of the King will require more than just going through the motions. It requires faith in action!
I think this is a great warning for many of us who live in what was once described as ‘Christendom.’ Our culture incorporates lots of Christian elements and it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that these things are a good enough substitute - that so long as we turn up at church, it won’t matter if we don’t seek transformation, that we don’t seek to love the world like God does. Attending church because we enjoy taking part in rituals or like traditions will not prepare us for Jesus’ return. Being born in England or claiming any other kind of cultural or religious heritage will not prepare us for Jesus’ return.
Turning to God and inviting Jesus to renew and transform our lives is the only way to get the road ready – the only way to walk towards to kingdom of God. And Jesus’ invitation to turn to Him is open to everybody.
Worryingly, in our media today, we see Christianity being tied to all kinds of ideologies that aim to exclude some and elevate others and we must be cut this off when we see it. This advent, let’s ask ourselves, are there any false judgements we have of ourselves and others need to be put before the fire or the axe? Where are our barriers that need breaking down? Are there prejudices, grievances, old hurts we need Jesus to heal, so we can start welcoming?
John’s words are clear. To be ready for God we should not be building barriers, we should be bearing fruit – always increasing the kingdom, always spreading the love of God – anything that does not grow in this way, will have no place when Jesus returns.
THE ROAD AHEAD:
John didn’t know exactly how the rest of God’s plan would play out but He trusted in Jesus and He was comforted by the knowledge that he would one day be welcomed in into God’s glorious kingdom – I pray that awesome hope keeps all of us going! This advent, can we ask God to see where our lives might need a change of direction? And maybe a bit of pruning or burning away of the old to make way for the new?
Ask God to do this work in us (hard and painful though it may be) and we can be sure He’ll get us ready. He’ll get us ready to be voices crying out in the wilderness of this broken world – voices proclaiming healing, justice, peace and hope.
John the Baptist really inspires me because He gave His life to help get others ready to meet Jesus. I pray that anything that holds us back from God and from others would be moved, washed away, burned to ashes or cut down – so that we can be free to invite absolutely everyone to repent and be baptised and spend our lives helping others to line up to join the welcome party when Jesus returns.
Amen.