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Bible Readings for Sunday, December 11th, 2011

– The Week of The Third Sunday of Advent *Click on each bible passage to expand the text. Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2. to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

3. and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

4. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

5. Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

6. And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.

7. Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

8. “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”

10. I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. Luke 1:46b-55 46. And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord

47. and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48. for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49. for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.

50. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

51. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

53. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

54. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful

55. to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 16. Be joyful always; 17. pray continually; 18. give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20. do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21. Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22. Avoid every kind of evil. 23. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. John 1:6-9, 19-28 6. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

19. Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.”

21. They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22. Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23. John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

24. Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25. questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26. “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28. This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. – Isaiah 61:11

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. – Luke 1:52-53

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. – John 1:9

Light for Every Man

Those of you who are my faithful detractors (I am blessed by your criticisms), are probably already rolling your eyes, and muttering, “I know where this is going.”

Well, you’re right. I will always highlight the passages that illustrate God’s will for all the world to be reconciled, not just an elect few. (Not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of illustrating that over the past year…)

John 1 6. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Every man.

Everyone.

All the world.

Why is the thought of God reconciling the whole of creation to God so threatening to some? Is is because they find a (false) sense of security in the “us vs. them” mentalities of the world? Is it because it’s seemingly easier to focus on the differences between people than to struggle to find commonality and cooperation? Well, we are only human after all, and love is a difficult concept for us. But not for God.

God adores us, all of us. And not just us humans, everything: God created it all. And God is particularly fond of the lost ones among us, the least among us, and the broken among us. What makes you think that God would ever change?

Because you can’t imagine it. The perseverance, the naive hope, and the strength that it would take to reform and reconcile a child molester, a serial murderer, a terrorist. You cannot conceive of society every growing out of our infancy of avarice, greed and self-interest. And you’d be right: these things are improbable for most of us, if not outright impossible. But not for God. Not WITH God.

If we, as believer and followers of Christ can simply “get over” this “hump” of disbelief, embrace the Will of God that all things should be reconciled to God… then we would finally have our blueprint, our game plan.

John 13 34. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

But first we must be baptized again, in order to begin our holy mission of reconciliation.

…And the congregation says, “Huh?”

We Must Start Again

“But we’re already Christian!?”, I can imagine some protesting, “Why would we need to be baptized again??”

Because, my beloved, we have screwed this whole thing up. We are no longer God’s messenger’s in the world, aiding a reformation of all people through love and compassion; living as Christ lived, loving as Christ loved: without prejudice, without requirements, without end. Setting right what was wrong, leveling all things for all people.

Luke 1 (The Song of Mary) 52. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

Instead, we have discarded the divine blueprint of reconciliation and we have begun the opposing work of delineating false borders and divisions, and segregating GOD’s children on nothing but tragic superficiality. And where GOD’s justice was a great leveling, where all people would be made equal, we are now working hard as a nation to declare who ‘deserves’ and who ‘deserves not’. WE are becoming anti-Christ. Today, we would call Mary, the Mother of God, a “socialist” and try and paint her as a “progressive conspirator”.

We are dirty. We are unclean. We are unfit as a chosen people to do this work of God’s love and justice.

Why should I demand a baptism from the already-baptized, the already-chosen people? For the same reasons John did 2,000 years ago:

But why should John baptize? What made the matter still more strange was this. This kind of baptism was not for Israelites at all. It was proselytes, incomers from other faiths, who were baptized. Israelites were never baptized; they were God’s already and did not need to be washed. But Gentiles had to be washed in baptism. John was making Israelites do what only Gentiles had to do. He was suggesting that the chosen people had to be cleansed. That was indeed precisely what John believed. Barclay, William (2010-11-05). The Gospel of John, Volume One: 1 (New Daily Study Bible) (p. 93). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.

That is precisely what I believe.