Preparing the Way

With the Second Sunday in Advent our focus shifts from Christ’s Second Advent to His First Advent and the ministry of John the Baptist. We’ll see that all three of our Scripture Lessons today are tied together by the theme of preparation, getting ready for the coming of the Lord. Central to this preparation for the coming of Christ is repentance. Thus John the Baptist comes preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Well, just as repentance and the confession of sins was to prepare Israel for the coming of Christ in His First Advent, even so repentance and the confession of sins prepares you for His coming in Word and Sacrament on this, the Day of the Lord. A lot had transpired in the history of Israel from the close of the OT to the ministry of John the Baptist. As we’ll see this morning the Land that was to be an Edenic Garden had become a wilderness and needed to be cleansed and renewed. Even so a lot has transpired in your lives from the time you left church last Sunday till the call to worship this morning. We don’t need 400 years to mess things up! Each Sunday you are sent out in the power of the Spirit to manifest the new creation in your lives, families, neighborhoods and work. And yet even with the best of intentions and the most diligent efforts, you and I fall woefully short of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore as you contemplate the prospect of Christ coming to you in Word and Sacrament, “to walk among the lamp stands” as it were, His way must be prepared. In order for His Word to have free course in our midst so as to bring about a new creation in and through us, we are in need of cleansing and renewal. Let us then repent of the mess that we have made of our lives, families, neighborhoods, work and this world, and confess our sins unto Almighty God. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!