Advent 2, Year A, Dec. 8, 2019 (full size gallery)
Advent 2 was the first of two weeks on John the Baptist. Carey Connors gave the sermon. John was foretold by Isaiah – “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
The Message Version of Matthew 3 about John is distinctive- “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here…”… “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama – compared to him I’m a mere stagehand – will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house – make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”
Catherine led Adult Education on women of Advent. Today was Elizabeth and Zechariah. In the Message version – “You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you – many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God.”
Advent is a time of surprise in the case of Elizabeth able to conceive which Zechariah did not believe at first and rendered mute for a time.
This Sunday was the last Sunday for St. Peter’s Family Christmas, gifts for children identified by social service. It was also the final Sunday for Poinsettias for Christmas.
This weekend Dec. 6-7 was busy!
1.Port Royal Christmas – Fri. Dec. 6, 5:30pm. Over a 100 children enjoy Christmas with crafts, pizza and Santa.
2. Choir Retreat – Sat. Dec. 7, 10:00am–The choir had time to rehearse Christmas music which will include a piece by John Rutter. This was followed by lunch. prepared by Brad.
3. Everett’s Christmas – Sat. Dec. 7, 5:00pm. 40 enjoyed a delicious pot luck dinner, over the top Christmas decorations, and Christmas caroling. Link has both photos and videos.
At the heart of the lesson from Matthew for Advent 2, and perhaps its overall theme, is the matter of hope. As Paul writes "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in elieving, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Related to this is answering ‘What defines a great leader?” In the midst of this we are called for repentence.
Fundamental is the prophesy of Isaiah, "root of Jesse" that there was a precedent for Jesus. Paul uses it in Romans and extends the Messiah to the Gentiles. "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope." The Jews were not the only chosen people – Gentiles too will find hope in Christ. Christ saw the bigger picture. The scriptures will help to unify us so we can become more Christ-like.
This week centers around John the Baptist and his mission described in the Gospel. The message is couched in irony. How could a man coming out of the wilderness provide a message of the savior ?
In the Gospel, John the Baptist calls for repentance in preparation for the coming Messiah. It refers to a turning away from the past way of life and the inauguration of a new one. John doesn’t come in traditional messenger garmants let alone priest clothes. However, his message will change the world. The Message Translation by Eugene Peterson defines this well – "I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama – compared to him I’m a mere stagehand – will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out."
From Isaiah’s time there was plenty of needs for this in the corruption 8th centuries before Christ. He defined qualities of the ideal ruler. The ruler should have a spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might and knowledge and fear. The Psalm also looked forward to a new ruler to establish peace and justice, a desired state of affairs which goes out to help the poor.
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 this Advent season, our preparation may be the consideration of our own repentence.