Second Sunday of Advent Parish Eucharist Advent is a time of waiting but it is also a time of longing. One our deepest longings is to feel at home. Our readings today reflect on the sense of alienation and a desire for belonging and the homecoming we long for. Isaiah 40:1-11 The people of God in exile long to return home, they long for Jerusalem to be theirs once more. God’s vision for the restoration of Jerusalem comes not from the heart of the homeland but from the wilderness. Here, they will receive a new and larger understanding of being at home, a home that can encompass, not just their people but all peoples. Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist echoes Isaiah’s call: the wilderness is not just the place where the voice calls from, it is the place where God is at work, the place where we are called to meet God. To truly come home to God we need to leave the place we call home and journey into the wilderness. Here we begin to understand what true home is. Isaiah 40:1-11 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, A voice says, “Cry out!” O Jerusalem, herald of good
tidings, lift it up, do not fear; “Here is your God!”
THE GOSPEL: Mark 1:1-8 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God As it is written in the prophet Isaiah “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Collect O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen |
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