Sunday's coming!

  Philippians 1: 3-11 and Luke 3: 1-18. Advent is a strange time. It is about getting ready to celebrate Christmas – but that preparation doesn’t mean all the stuff we all think we have to do – cards & presents & food and all that. It means reflecting on what it really means to say that God is with us in Jesus Christ and asking what difference it makes in our lives. Last week's Advent 1 readings were about warnings of the End Times - a reminder that God is in charge of human history, and that the coming of Jesus is part of a larger plan. Advent has a timeless quality, in that it relates to then (the birth of Christ), now (our preparations) and what is to come (God's unfolding plan & eventual kingdom in its fulness). We can’t celebrate Advent and not ask ‘what difference is it making to us here and now? What new things is God going to do this Christmastime?’ Luke's gospel today tells us of the coming of John the Baptist. Here’s an odd bit of the C...

So.. if I was preaching each Sunday of Advent what would I say? Week 1, as you have seen, was 'Hope'. Week 2, I think, will be 'Repent' taking Philippians 1: 3-11 and Luke 3: 1-18. I know the lectionary splits John the Baptist's story in two but really, I think we can get too much John the Baptist in the lectionary (he must have a good publicist!). Week 3 would be 'Rejoice!' Taking Zephaniah 3: 14-20 and then 'borrowing' the Magnificat (Luke 1: 39-45) from next week's lectionary Then week 4 is 'Prepare' - we're left with Micah 5: 2-5a but to be honest I think we're wall-to-wall carol services by then as we're only 2 days off the great day itself. In a multi-church situation, such as the one I'm in here, it's hard to maintain a 'series' over a number of weeks, but I wanted to think the season through in my own mind. Life is getting full of celebrations - but I will try to post sermons/reflections ...