This week’s Prayers and Readings for the 3rd Sunday of Advent
The Collect for Advent Sunday
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 Sunday
O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this Sunday
We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts; kindle in us the fire of your Spirit that when your Christ comes again we may shine as lights before his face; who is alive and reigns now and for ever. Amen
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 25, verses 1 to 10
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. 4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. 6 Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord! 8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
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 Lesson for this Sunday is taken from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah, Chapter 3, verses 14 to 20
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the First Letter of St Paul to the Philippians, Chapter 4, verses 4 to 7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel according to St Luke Chapter 3, verses 7-18
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Luke Glory to You, o Lord !
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin 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. 9 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.’10 And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ 11 In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ 12 Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ 13 He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ 14 Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’ 15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ 18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19 But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added to them all by shutting up John in prison.
This is the Gospel of the Lord Praise to You, o Christ !
The sermon this Sunday comes from Rev Chich Hewitt
If a family were to approach us seeking after baptism, what would we say? ‘You brood of vipers!’ I would not say that, and I am sure you would not. We would want to welcome a new family. Yet centuries ago, large numbers of people sought baptism from a man called John, and what did he say? ‘You brood of vipers!’ Today we have uplifting passages from Isaiah, a psalm, and Philippians, with its lovely words, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice;’ Henry Purcell wrote his beautiful Bell Anthem on those words. But the theme and the Collect for today lead towards John the Baptist, so that is where we will go.
From the outset he was a special person, miracle son of an elderly childless couple. Zechariah was a temple priest and was struck dumb after an encounter with the angel who brought this news. Against tradition, he was named John, and then Zechariah regained his speech. Those around realised something important was happening. John’s mother, Elizabeth, was a cousin to Mary, and when Mary was visited by the angel, Elizabeth was already 6 months pregnant. Other than the one incident of Jesus as a 12 year old in the temple, we have no idea how these cousins grew up until they met as adults.
John was a transitionary figure who belonged neither to the Old Testament nor the New - or perhaps he belonged to both. There are references to John in the Old Testament, and both Jesus and John refer to one another in the Gospels. In Zechariah’s beautiful words before the birth of his son, in what we know as the Benedictus, Zechariah said, ‘and you, child, shall be called the prophet of the most high, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way. To give his people knowledge of salvation, by the forgiveness of all their sins.’ John made people aware of their sins, and in so doing, alerted them to be aware of the need for and possibility of salvation.
By all accounts John was a wild figure, dressing and eating strangely. What is significant is that he attracted people away from the usual places of worship. The temple was still fundamental to Jewish worship, and otherwise people met in synagogues. The authorities could not have been pleased to see many people heading off to the wilderness and the river Jordan, including some Scribes and Pharisees. People flocked to hear him, even if he was so critical of them.
Note the challenges he made. ‘You brood of vipers, who persuaded you to flee from the wrath that is to come?’ In preceding verses Luke notes who was ruling the people at that time on behalf of the Romans, and we understand it to have been a turbulent period. Many were calling for change, or even fighting for it, and the situation was not stable. In the midst of this was the expectation of a Messianic figure. Was John this person?
John wanted his hearers to know that if they sought baptism, repentance was essential. ’Bear fruits worthy of repentance,’ he said. In other words, lead lives that do not bear false fruit but are the result of repentance and a change of direction . At this time Jews were aware of symbolically cleansing themselves with water. But this was about individuals cleansing themselves. John was saying and doing something different. He was the agent administering this washing away of sins. So the ‘where’ and ‘how’ of his operation was a break with tradition, and it was gaining interest. The religious authorities must have felt threatened.
There is another interesting thing he said. ‘Do not say to yourselves, ‘we have Abraham as our ancestor’’. Years ago a friend of mine had completed post-graduate engineering studies, but then wished to study medicine. Through his mother he had a link with the Head of Physiotherapy at the same University, and mentioned this in an interview. He got short shrift. The interviewer said he wasn’t interested in-whom he knew. The issue was that a well-qualified applicant was a risk, because he could easily fall back on his past career if things did not work out. In the event he went on to become an anaesthetist. But he got there by his own efforts and not on account of whom he knew, which cut no ice. It reminds me of the story of a son of General Eisenhower who was a junior officer, at a meeting with more senior officers. He mentioned something his father said should be done. The response from a senior officer was, ‘and what does your mummy say?’ Clearly there were some wanting to hear John the Baptist who suggested they didn’t need to do anything because they were children of Abraham. John was not impressed. There was no such thing as a privileged position, but instead the acknowledgment of need.
Those who are genuine about change want to know what is expected of them. The answer was not what they wanted to hear. If you have two cloaks and another has none, then share. If you have excess food and someone has none, then share. Years ago I attended a huge conference in South Africa. It was midwinter, and unseasonably cold, with temperatures near freezing. The Archbishop of Cape Town then was wearing his clerical cloak, and someone walking past asked if he would give it away to someone who was cold. He simply smiled. The Franciscan way is tough.
John was concerned about a society where the rich were getting richer, and the poor were getting poorer. Tax collectors were not to practise extortion. John did not suggest the overthrow of the system but rather the honest use of it. It should not be used for personal gain. That would have been a challenge for people like Zacchaeus. And then there was a word for the soldiers who some think were more likely to have been Herod’s guard, than Roman soldiers. It would appear that inflation was not present at that time, so the challenge was again probably about honesty. Soldiers were not to say to others, ‘we are not being paid enough, so we need you to supply our needs’. All these three things are about being selfless, and that challenges everyone. Nor did Jesus suggest anything different when his ministry began. Seeking after God can result in difficult challenges. Bishop Tom Wright described a cartoon in which a sceptic looked heavenward and shouting, ‘if you are up there, tell us what we should do? A voice came back. ‘feed the hungry, house the homeless, establish justice.’ The alarmed sceptic said, ‘just testing’. ‘Me, too’, replies the voice.
After this difficult exchange between John and his hearers, we learn that people were still asking, ‘is this the Messiah? John was adamant. ‘No’. ‘I baptise with water, but the one who is coming will baptise with the Spirit and with fire.’ John always pointed away from himself, and towards Jesus, Yet the challenge of their messages are the same, even if their methods were different. John challenged Herod’s incestuous behaviour and paid for it with his life. Jesus formed a fellowship of disciples whose lifestyle also challenged and undermined Herod, and he, too, paid for that with his life. Challenging an authority which is not moral or ethical is part of the package and comes at a cost. Following Jesus is about justice as well as forgiveness and renewed life. Love and justice go hand in hand.
Yet all we do should be in the power and love of Christ through all he has done and won for us. Along with everything else, there should be joy in the presence of God who’s essence is love. As we prepare to remember again the birth of a Saviour, we can say with Paul, ‘Rejoice in the Lord, and again, I say, rejoice.’