Preparation: John the Baptist
The reflections for this third week of Advent, 13-19 December, are led by Revd Charles Sargent. They can all be found below this week’s picture
Sunday 13 December
This week’s reflections on the theme of preparation and John the Baptist are introduced in today’s sermon:
(you can find the full service by clicking here)
Monday 14 December
Reading
Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins. A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God’
Isaiah 40: 1-3
Reflection
Prayer
God of hope, who brought love into this world,
be the love that dwells between us.
God of hope, who brought peace into this world,
be the peace that dwells between us.
God of hope, who brought joy into this world,
be the joy that dwells between us.
God of hope, the rock we stand upon,
be the centre, the focus of our lives always,
and particularly this Advent time.
Amen.
Tuesday 15 December
Reading
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24
Reflection
Prayer
O Lord God, at the first coming of your Son Jesus Christ, you sent John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way before him. Grant to all Christian people the same burning zeal to prepare the way of his coming again; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Wednesday 16 December
Reading
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.
Luke 1: 39-45
Reflection
Prayer
Lord, you challenge us this Advent time
This season of preparation
To put aside our pride
And understand our need
For repentance
Forgiveness
And mercy
Less of self
More of you
Preparation for our journey
To the stable and beyond
Purify our hearts
Sanctify our lives
That we might serve you
Faithfully this day and all days,
Amen.
Thursday 17 December
Reading
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
John 1: 6-8
Reflection
Prayer
Christ, come into our world of darkness
Light up our lives with your coming.
Fulfil all our longings with the joy of your birth
Strengthen our resolve to work for change in our world
And to share the hope of your birth that each Advent brings,
Amen.
Friday 18 December
Reading
This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said,
‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord”’,
as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing
John 1: 19-28
Reflection
Prayer
Come Lord, your wounded world is yearning for you to come again.
Come Lord, your weary world is crying out for you to lift us up out of our despair, our hunger, our thirst for something better, our need for the food that will last.
Come Lord, come again, we need to begin again, Amen.
Saturday 19 December
Reading
The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”’
Luke 3: 2-6
Reflection
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you sent your messenger to tell of the birth of your Son, that people might believe in him. Open our ears to hear your call, to repent of our sins, and to seek our heavenly inheritance. May we profess Christ until we stand by his grace before the glory of your majesty; grant this for the sake or your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.