Sunday, December 11, 2022

3rd Sunday of Advent

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: Isaiah 35:1-10
– Psalm 146:5-10 or alternatively Luke 1:47-55
– Second Reading: James 5:7-10
– Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:2-11

The liturgical color for the day is: Purple or Blue

We are moving forward.  That is the vision of Isaiah.  But that is really not enough.  The vision of Isaiah is even stronger than that.  Before us there is this great movement into which all of our existence is being pulled.  It grows stronger and stronger.  It is a movement that not only encompasses the whole of our being, but it encompasses the whole of creation.

The dry desert is in bloom.  The dry places are lush ponds of beauty.  The parched lands are not parched anymore.  The predators are pets.  And humanity has its face set towards that mountain of God where in that day of the Lord all will be full.  There is that forward, forward, forward movement of all—it is a God-ward movement that is happening.  It is not so much that we are stepping forward into it as it is that the whole of existence is stepping into the fullness of time and all of creation.

There is this God-ward movement.  The creation is being restored—it is being restored and redeemed into what it was intended to be.  There is this wholeness that is coming, and that way is being prepared now.  Forward—God-ward is where we are going.

What leads the way?  What does she sing?  What is her song/our song?  “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

What if, what if we were to be more like Mary—imagine…oh, with John Lennon even, imagine.  Imagine a world and even imagine our lives where instead of letting fear win—we let our soul magnify the Lord and our spirit rejoices in God.  Imagine if we do that…what happens?

Imagine… how the desert would bloom.

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk