THUrsday, December 3, 2020
Scripture: Mark 1.1-8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Devotion:
Today, John the Baptist invites us to prepare for Jesus coming and entering into our lives. There are a lot of ways that we prepare to experience Jesus. During Advent, we prepare to receive the Christ child through our many and varied traditions, through pulling out all the stops on our decorations, music, and liturgical activities. We have cookie walks and we hang the greens; we light Advent candles and we collect the gifts of the fourth wiseman (don’t forget to drop yours off this Sunday from 11-12:30!). There is an annual rhythm of preparing for the birth of Christ in our lives. And yet, John the Baptist invites us to a different kind of preparation: repentance. Repenting means that we literally turn our heads away from something: from our sins, from our guilt, from our past. And then John baptizes the people: he cleanses them of the past, and enables them to look forward to their calling in Jesus Christ. This kind of preparation isn’t always easy: admitting where we’ve been wrong, confessing our sins, letting go of the past or of our expectations - all of this is a part of preparing for Jesus to come. This year in particular, John the Baptist’s words ring true for us. All of us have experienced disagreements and frustrations through the pandemic, and it’s time for us to repent of those. All of us have been sinful, and it’s time for us to repent of that as well. And all of us have had expectations for the Advent and Christmas season that we may need to let go of in order to embrace the new thing that God is doing today. Let us pray that we might let go of everything that entangles us, so that we might have room in our hearts to embrace the Christ child who is coming in glory!
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Devotion:
Today, John the Baptist invites us to prepare for Jesus coming and entering into our lives. There are a lot of ways that we prepare to experience Jesus. During Advent, we prepare to receive the Christ child through our many and varied traditions, through pulling out all the stops on our decorations, music, and liturgical activities. We have cookie walks and we hang the greens; we light Advent candles and we collect the gifts of the fourth wiseman (don’t forget to drop yours off this Sunday from 11-12:30!). There is an annual rhythm of preparing for the birth of Christ in our lives. And yet, John the Baptist invites us to a different kind of preparation: repentance. Repenting means that we literally turn our heads away from something: from our sins, from our guilt, from our past. And then John baptizes the people: he cleanses them of the past, and enables them to look forward to their calling in Jesus Christ. This kind of preparation isn’t always easy: admitting where we’ve been wrong, confessing our sins, letting go of the past or of our expectations - all of this is a part of preparing for Jesus to come. This year in particular, John the Baptist’s words ring true for us. All of us have experienced disagreements and frustrations through the pandemic, and it’s time for us to repent of those. All of us have been sinful, and it’s time for us to repent of that as well. And all of us have had expectations for the Advent and Christmas season that we may need to let go of in order to embrace the new thing that God is doing today. Let us pray that we might let go of everything that entangles us, so that we might have room in our hearts to embrace the Christ child who is coming in glory!