Sunday, December 7, 2008

Isaiah  40:  1 - 5,  9 - 11

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.  A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord!  Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!  Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.  Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news!  Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah:  Here is your God!  Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.  Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carryin them in his bosom, and leading the ewes wth care.

Psalms  85: 9 - 14

    I will hear what God proclaims; the Lord - for he proclaims peace to his people, and to his faithful ones, and to those who put in him their hope.  Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land.  Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss.  Truth shall spring  out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.  The Lord himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase.  Justice shall walk before him, and salvation, along the way of his steps.

2 Peter 3: 8 - 14

  This point must not be overlooked, dear friends.  In the Lord's eyes, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day.  The Lord does not delay in keeping his promise - though some consider it "delay."  Rather, he shows you generous patience, since he wants none to perish but all to come to repentance.  The day of the Lord will  come like a thief, and on that day the heavens will vanish with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and all its deeds will be made manifest.

  Since everything is to be destroyed in this way, what sort of men must you not be!  How holy in your conduct and devotion, looking for the coming of the day of God and trying to hasten it!  Because of it, the heavens will be destroyed in flames and the elements will melt away in a blaze.  What we await are new heavens and a new earth where, according to his promise, the justice of God will reside.

  So, beloved, while waiting for this, make every effort to be found without stain of defilement, and at peace in his sight.

  Mark 1:  1 - 8

  Here begins the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  In Isaiah the prophet it is written:  " I send my messenger before you to prepare your way: a herald's voice in the desert, crying, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path.'"

  Thus it was that John the Baptizer appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance which led to the forgiveness of sins.  All the Judean countryside and the people of Jerusalem went out to him in great numbers.  They were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.  John was clothed in camel's hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist. His food was grasshoppers and wild honey.  The theme of his preaching was:  "One more powerful than I is to come after me. I am not fit to stoop and untie his sandal straps.  I have baptized you in water; he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit."