Grace and peace from the Rector’s Study on the second Sunday of Advent. It has been a good first week of Advent, we began a study of the “Virtual Preaching Monks” on Wednesday and had some good and probing conversation. We will continue this coming Wednesday with the study. You should stop by and see the work that was done on the pond at the end of last week – Don and Bert took down a lot of the overgrown weeds and volunteer trees. It has been 5 years and it was much-needed. May the next 20 days of your Advent journey be fruitful.
In worship we greeted the “Sunday of the Prophets” and looked for the wisdom of the ages to lead us in our new beginnings. Our Hebrew Scripture text came from the Prophet Malachi and the prophet told us that the messenger would come suddenly. God’s messenger will come and help clear away the things that impede our worship and faithfulness to God. In response, we sang the Song of Zechariah, laying out the observations of John the Baptist’s father Zechariah, and what John’s function was in God’s economy. While John would help restore humanity to relationship with God, it would come with a price. Our epistle today was from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Paul is emphasizing the necessity and power of prayer for the community. In our prayers we are able to share God’s real love with others and the world. Our sermon was loosely taken from our Gospel reading from Luke. In Luke’s story, there is great detail and description of those in (human) power but Luke also provided the image of real power found in John the Baptist. Power that would help restore all creation to relationship with God, not just those who were in “power.” Our mission is to remember the cost paid and potentially demanded as we work to bring the truth of God’s love to the world.
I invite your comments,
Les+
Readings: Micah 3:1-4; Canticle 16; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6
Video of worship: https://youtu.be/h7DF2I99OnU
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