Second Advent was damp in the mid 50’s which seemed colder as time went on. Attendance was 40 though many of the same people which weren’t here last week are still on vacation.
We did have a surprise visitor – Father John Wall and Suzanne. They were on the way to Tappahannock and stopped as the Gospel was read. They faced a long line to greet them after the service.
We did light the second Advent candle, thanks to Eunice. The reading reflected our state of being. "God of compassion, we are not nearly ready to welcome you. Our preparations are late and inadequate, our hearts are distracted by worries, hopes and material clutter. We are a disorderly people. We do not yet love justice and mergy, we do not yet seek peace, so we cannot as friends with you. We are sinners. Come to us, O Holy and Tender One to forgive us and save us."
This has been a busy week with Roger, his son Lamar, cousin Travis and Catherine helping with clothes sorting at Staten Island. The Choir retreat was held on Saturday. As part of our Advent preparation we have collected food each Sunday
This Sunday we had the "Giving Tree" prepared by Nancy Long. Most of the tags were gobbled up quickly. A bike was left but Catherine emphasized parishioners could combine together.
Speaking of Nancy, we celebrated her birthday. The Choir celebrated her daughter’s birthday in California yesterday using a cell phone
Finally we welcomed a visit from Thom Guthrie to play the postlude, giving Brad a break after yesterday’s choir retreat.
This lectionary for Second Advent centers around John the Baptist, from his foretelling in Malachi, to his birth in Canticle 4 and his mission described in the Gospel. The message is couched in irony. How could a priest 400 years before John the Baptist (Malachi) foretell his coming ? How could a couple (Zechariah and Elizabeth) advanced in age give birth to John ? How could a man coming out of the wildnerness provide a message of the savior ?
While this week is about messenger and the message, we must accept the twists and turns in our own journey – the unexpected – and how God may be making a plan for us. We will be different for all of it. The key may be to expect the unexpected.
"In today’s scripture lessons, we meet Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and Zechariah dramatically experienced what it means to live as an “in-between” person in his own life." Zechariah doubts the prophecy of the angel Gabriel and thus is rendered mute until his own son is born.
As the sermon states, "Now Zechariah is living in his own “in-between” time. He has no voice at all and all he can do is to wait, full of uncertainty, hoping that he really will get his voice back someday. " When he does get his voice back he says "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. “Praise be to God.” "That’s where the awareness of God speaking to each one of us and working in our lives begins—with praise and thanksgiving. Keeping track of our blessings reveals God’s mighty work in each of our lives, even when we enter into the most awful situations and tragedies that are sure to come our way as human beings. "
"Earlier, I said that we’ve lost our voices because somewhere deep down inside, we doubt the truth of the good news that Jesus brought the reign of God to earth, and that this work will someday be completed. We tend to sit and watch the tragedies of the world go by, or to remain silent in the face of injustices, or to turn our backs on the ugly situations that plague our world—because we believe that the world will always be this way and that nothing will ever change.
But if we truly believe the good news that God is merciful and compassionate and that we are a forgiven people, then we all become the sons and daughters of Zechariah.
We Christians who witness the tragedies all around us are the ones who are now called, like John the Baptist, to go before God to prepare God’s way in this tragic, destructive, merciless and godless age. It’s our job now to prepare God’s way into the world. "
"Our gracious God has set each one of us free to prepare the way with our own unique gifts, and to live as forgiving, merciful, compassionate light-filled people walking in the way of peace that God has laid out for us. "