Collect and Readings for Third Sunday of Advent – Isaiah 35.1-10, Psalm 146.4-10, Magnificat, James 5.7-10, Matthew 11.2-11
The Prayer for today
O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your
way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to
judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with
the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
John the Baptist’s task had been to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah, and that placed him, with all the prophets before him, in the age before the coming of the kingdom. We recall how John had urged people to sort out their lives, stressing the possibility of judgement as the all-seeing God came among his people in person, and it is easy to see how John’s enthusiasm had polished his hopes into a specific shape. This is something we are all prone to do.
While it helped the urgency and focus of John’s message, the side effect was that when Jesus’ ministry started to look different from his expectation John began to wonder if he’d been mistaken. The frustration and suffering of his imprisonment must have added to the undermining negatives.
What Jesus does is hold up the Isaiah prophecy as a checklist. If these signs of the kingdom are indeed happening, then John can trust that the promised Saviour is indeed at work, even if the style of his ministry is different from what he had imagined. It’s all to do with our expectations. If we get into the way of fleshing these out completely through our imagination, we may find that we don’t recognise the real thing when we see it.
So, it is as well to stay flexible, holding on to what we know for certain and keeping our minds open to details. This is true for us when we try to imagine God, heaven, or the end of all things. They may look like paintings and frescoes of the Old Masters, and they may not. We mustn’t let our expectations become stunted or narrowed by a particular artist’s impression. That is what happened when people expected the astronauts to see God above the clouds and were disappointed. Our great expectations of God will be fulfilled far in excess of anything we might imagine and entirely in keeping with his nature.
Some things to reflect on:
· Look at the ‘checklist‘ of Isaiah 35:1-10. What kind of kingdom does this suggest, and how does it differ from what John the Baptist was preaching (Matthew 3:1-12)?
· How do we sometimes limit God by our narrow expectations?
God bless and stay safe and well.
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for Second Sunday of Advent – Isaiah 11.1-10, Psalm 72.1-7,18-19, Romans 15.4-13, Matthew 3.1-12
The Prayer for today
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.
Before any real changes can take place in our spiritual development, we have to come to the point of recognising where we are and wanting it to be better. All addicts and their families are painfully aware of the necessity to acknowledge the addiction and find it unbearable before there is any real hope of kicking the habit. It is at this point when a situation finally becomes intolerable that we are galvanised into taking action to change things.
Living in exile, the people of Israel became acutely aware of their nation’s need for good leadership, justice, integrity and peace. In this week’s passage from Isaiah we sense their longing, as they look forward to God providing what they know they need. Typically, the prophecy was fulfilled in far greater measure, since the kingdom of justice, peace and love- the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus -is still growing throughout the entire world.
John the Baptist’s message of repentance once again recovered the urgency for people sorting their lives out, since the coming Messiah was imminent and they wanted to put things right and be ready, much as we might rush around clearing up the house before guests are due to arrive – especially those guests we want to impress, or those who we know will notice the clutter! Often the clearing will be something we know has needed doing for ages; the arrival of guests simply reminds us that it has to be done.
So what about all that spiritual clutter and grime which we know needs sorting? Today the Gospel helps to nudge us into urgent action, recognising that we don’t want things to stay as they are, and the effort of changing whatever needs changing is well worth it. God comes and knocks at the door of our hearts all the time- not just at the end of the world.
Some things to reflect on:
· Does our church’s outreach reflect a belief that God’s good news is for all, or for the few who ‘do it our way’?
· Is Isaiah’s righteous, just and compassionate living realistic, or simply a pipe-dream which can disillusion us?
God bless and stay safe and well.
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for Advent Sunday – Isaiah 2.1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13.11-14, Matthew 24.36-44
The Prayer for today
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now
in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the
last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise
to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Church begins its new year on Advent Sunday with the alarm clock jerking us out of sleep. There isn’t even a snooze button. There is rather a sense of urgency as we listen to the readings.
First, we have the vision seen by Isaiah of the last days, with the holy hill of Jerusalem a centre of pilgrimage for people of every nation. It is a picture of two-way traffic; the pilgrims streaming towards the city from all directions, in order to understand and know God better, and the Word of God pouring out from Jerusalem in all directions to teach, explain and transform lives.
From our position in time, we can appreciate the typical and extraordinary nature of such prophecy, since in Jesus the Word of God has indeed been pouring out from Jerusalem to the rest of the world, and to the rest of time during this last age before the end of all. And it is to him that the people come in every generation to have their lives transformed.
The Isaiah passage ends with a summons and an invitation to walk in the light of the Lord, and Paul takes this up in his letter to the Romans. The armour of light that will protect us from evil is the life of love spelt out by Jesus both in teaching and example. So, as we begin our preparation for Christmas, we are reminded of Jesus’ humility in coming to live among us and show us the Way, and also of the future, when he will return in glory as righteous judge.
In the Gospel we have Jesus’ own teaching about the last days and discover that one thing we can be certain of is that the second coming cannot be predicted. No last-minute revision will be possible, then, and the regular coursework format is a more helpful model. We have to live our lives in constant readiness so that we are not taken by surprise. This is partly so that we can be prepared for death or the second coming, and partly so that we can enjoy that quality of eternity which means God is constantly coming to us even while we live out our earthly lives. We need to be ready to receive him at every moment of every day.
Some things to reflect on:
· In what ways is the historical site of Jerusalem still a centre of pilgrimage? Why are so many people drawn to it?
· Why do you think the timing of the second coming is known only to God the Father? How might it affect us if we knew all the details in advance?
God bless and stay safe and well.
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for The Second Sunday before Advent – Malachi 4.1-2a, Psalm 98,
2 Thessalonians 3.6-13, Luke 21.5-19
The Prayer for today
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil and to make
us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify
ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory we may be
made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he is alive and reigns with you, in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Gospel for this week makes terrifying reading. The seemingly solid beauty of the temple seems to have triggered in Jesus a vision of the world from outside time. Like a speeded -up film we scan the great cosmic cycles and seasons, natural disasters and human agonies, as the earth labours towards its time of accomplishment.
Amongst the terror, distress, upheavals and ructions are scattered the bright lights of individuals who are unperturbed and faithful those who are not drawn into the panic but remain steadfast, strong as rocks in their perseverance.
We may well wonder how we could ever survive; what hope there could possibly be of us joining the number of those who will win eternal life by their endurance. Certainly, Jesus is anxious to stress that it will not be an easy ride, nor a natural consequence of setting out with enthusiasm on the Christian journey. We can’t take our salvation for granted and then sit back with our feet up.
We are warned of what to expect to enable us to be prepared, and the important truth is that we shall not be doing all this on our own or in our own strength. We will be yoked up with Jesus, sustained by his power and provided with the right words and the necessary courage. Only one second at a time will be expected of us!
There is no way church congregations or individual Christians will be able to shut their doors and hide away from the troubles and threats of the world. Our place is right in the centre of the action, getting involved, and standing up for what is right and just, whatever the personal consequences may be.
Some things to reflect on:
· What are the dangers of spiritual idleness, both personally and corporately, and how can we guard against it sidling into our lives?
· What are the effects of opposition and persecution on people’s faith?
God bless and stay safe and well.
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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