1st Reading: Isaiah 40.1-5, 9-11
Response: Psalm 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14
2nd Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1.1-8
Even during his time, John the Baptizer stood out as on oddity of a person. Never mind his clothes; he ate locusts and wild honey. In spite of it all, people went to him to be baptized, confessing their sins, to prepare the way of the Lord.
Nowadays one may find it difficult to allow such a person, man or woman, to prepare the way of the Lord into one's heart. This is so because an eccentric person usually makes us uncomfortable and perhaps even cautious. At times, the unfamiliar can be unnerving.
Now this is what we face: in our society these days, many things that happen are not good, not life-giving, not true; yet they occur so often that they seemingly become acceptable, or worse, the norm. What used to be considered wrong or inappropriate has become so familiar and ingrained in the culture that when the opposite is encountered, it is the good, the life-giving, the truth that can be uncomfortable, even suspicious. At such a time we who make up the church, the Body of Christ, can be as John the Baptizer to one another, helping each other discern which paths are dead ends or crooked, and which are straight and true.
Advent is a good time to hope for and to make real the service of preparing for each other the way of the Lord. To fill in the valleys, to make mountains and hills low, to level all the rough terrain: these are daunting tasks for one person. The sooner we commit to forming ourselves as true church communities, the sooner we shall see together the glory of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 40:5). -30-
Response: Psalm 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14
2nd Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1.1-8
Even during his time, John the Baptizer stood out as on oddity of a person. Never mind his clothes; he ate locusts and wild honey. In spite of it all, people went to him to be baptized, confessing their sins, to prepare the way of the Lord.
Nowadays one may find it difficult to allow such a person, man or woman, to prepare the way of the Lord into one's heart. This is so because an eccentric person usually makes us uncomfortable and perhaps even cautious. At times, the unfamiliar can be unnerving.
Now this is what we face: in our society these days, many things that happen are not good, not life-giving, not true; yet they occur so often that they seemingly become acceptable, or worse, the norm. What used to be considered wrong or inappropriate has become so familiar and ingrained in the culture that when the opposite is encountered, it is the good, the life-giving, the truth that can be uncomfortable, even suspicious. At such a time we who make up the church, the Body of Christ, can be as John the Baptizer to one another, helping each other discern which paths are dead ends or crooked, and which are straight and true.
Advent is a good time to hope for and to make real the service of preparing for each other the way of the Lord. To fill in the valleys, to make mountains and hills low, to level all the rough terrain: these are daunting tasks for one person. The sooner we commit to forming ourselves as true church communities, the sooner we shall see together the glory of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 40:5). -30-
