Crying Out in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-6
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"


John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, has come into the fullness of his ministry as God’s herald messenger. His is the voice “crying out in the wilderness” and calling us to prepare for the advent of salvation. This is a clear reference to the prophecy found in Isaiah 40, which foretells the restoration of the exiled people of Israel.
Isaiah’s message proclaims, “In the wilderness prepare the highway of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3). In our four gospels, John is the figure in the wilderness laying down the pavement. John called the people to repent, to turn hearts and minds and souls toward the God who attends to the salvation of the world.
For Isaiah, the barren wilderness was the obstacle between exile and home; the highway a symbol of restoration. For John, human sin was the obstacle between exile and home, and he called people to pave God’s way in their innermost being.
Our landscape isn’t the dry and barren wilderness of Judea, but John still cries out to us during this season of Advent. Repent. Prepare the way; for the time is here when we too will see the salvation of God. Calling out into our modern wilderness of bright lights and holiday shoppers, he brings us to a manger and then to a cross.
The voice crying out in the wilderness calls us to the true hope of restoration found in Jesus Christ; to the one who is the incredible gift of this incredible season.

Prayer:
Faithful God, you sent your messengers to call me back from exile. You sent your Son to restore me to life. Send your Spirit to work in my innermost being so that I may receive this gift with gratitude and live for your sake. Amen.

Martha Langford, Associate Pastor for Congregational Care

Week 4 Advent Wreath Devotions

WEEK 4—SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2008

Scripture Sentences
(may be read by one person or divided into parts)
4650 And the angel Gabriel came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’* But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’

From Luke 1:30-33 (NRSV)


The lighting of the Advent Candles
Loving God, in the same way that Mary was perplexed by Gabriel’s visit, we are surprised by the wonderful ways you work in our lives. With each candle we light, we give thanks for the many blessings that you have bestowed on us. As we bring light to this candle, so may you bring light to our world. Amen.


Hymn—O Come, O Come Emmanuel


Closing prayer
Close your worship time together with sharing of joys and concerns

Advent in 5 words

A local radio station (100.5 The Drive) has a feature on their morning show that encourages listeners to share "My world in 5 words". People share funny, poignant, and ordinary observations about their lives. It got me thinking, how would I sum up this season? With the help of some of my colleagues around the office--here are some of ours. . .

• Love, hope, family and friends
• Outstretched arms to redeem us
• comfort, comfort you my people
• Wait, Watch, Repent, Hope, Rejoice
• waiting. . .preparing. . .hope for all
• O come, O come, Emmanuel

What is Advent in 5 words for you?

Sharing Ourselves, Our Song

The season of Advent is a busy one for the Junior Choir at Third Church. We work very hard during our rehearsals to prepare music for Christmas, particularly for the “Festival of the Nativity” on Christmas Eve. As you can imagine, our rehearsals are normally very lively but during this Advent season, the feeling of “Christmas anticipation” among the children makes for a particularly exciting time.

One of our projects this year, was to make a video to download onto Youtube. I am including the link so you can enjoy our Advent anthem “People of the Night” by David Hass. The children particularly love singing this song and were eager to record it in this video. They are also excited that they can send the link to family and friends who don’t regularly have the opportunity to hear them sing.

The loveliness of children‘s voices is always inspiring. Their singing reflects a certain openness, simple faith and innocence that is particularly beautiful in this season of the year. Christmas, of course, does seem to be so much about children and their joyful enthusiasm, hopes and dreams. I hope you enjoy the video and the children’s offering of praise to God.

by Chris Lenti

Sandwich board prophet

Have you even seen the sandwich board prophets with their doom and gloom messages about the end of the world being near? I remember seeing one in New York City once with his message typed in a normal sized typewriter font. I had to get up close to read it. Then the sandwich board prophet had me right where he wanted me, right in his face. "Do you understand that the end of the world is near and you had better get your house in order. You don't have much time maybe just a few days, but certainly not longer than that, get ready for the end to come. And it won't be pretty!"

Jesus was a sandwich board prophet. Read what he says:

"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:25-26)

This Jesus saying is usually read every third year during Advent as part of our Sunday morning worship.
This "sandwich board prophet" saying of Jesus focuses on the end of time. Contrary to popular opinion, advent is not about watching for Jesus to be born. Advent is about watching for Jesus to come again as the reigning monarch, judge and redeemer of the universe. The season of Christmas is the festival of the first Advent or first coming of Christ. The season of Advent is watching for the second Advent, the second coming of Christ. But since we are all rather uncomfortable with this second coming stuff, we sort of turn our attention to a much more comfortable story of a baby being born rather than focusing on the rather foreboding tones of predictions of the end of time.

Now to be honest, I don't spend much time worrying about the end of time, or the second coming of Jesus. This was a major concern of American pietism in the first half of the 20th century, but hardly any more, except in some fundamentalist circles. In fact, I affirm is that the end of time on this planet is ultimately up to the human race, and we could either blow ourselves up or destroy the planet by pollution. I equally affirm that in the economy of God there has to be other divine creations of intelligent life in our universe. Just because we extinguish life on planet Earth does not mean the end of time for other civilizations in other solar systems. All this does not mean that we toss out the idea of the second coming of Christ as an old Hebrew apocalyptic myth, which it is. Rather we must de-mythologize it. So the second coming of Christ needs to be reinterpreted in a new way. Therefore the season of Advent must be re-interpreted.


The season of Advent and its theme, the second coming of Christ, gives us a perspective on time, our personal time, time in our families, time in our careers, time in our communities, national time, or even time among nations. Advent reminds us to watch, but at some point, time will run out. At some point we will have to decide or things will be decided for us. Advent reminds us that time in our lives is a little bit like pregnancy-- there is a limit to watching. If you watch too long events will decide our lives for us.

Week 3 Advent Wreath Devotions

WEEK 3—SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2008

Scripture Sentences
(may be read by one person or divided into parts)
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted,to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;
2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3
From Isaiah 61:1-2 (NRSV)


The lighting of the Advent Candles
Loving God, help us to be your light in the world. As we share not just “seasons greetings,” but the love of Christ with others this season, shine your radiance through us to bring light to all we encounter. As we bring light to this candle, so may you bring light to our world. Amen.


Hymn—Arise, Your Light is Come!


Closing prayer
Close your time together with sharing of joys and concerns

Advent Reflection

Matthew 10: 40 Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.




We talk a lot in the church about hospitality. The Bible tells us that we should welcome strangers. Congregations are thinking intentionally about how they can be more open and inviting to all. As we scurry to put up our wreaths, find the perfect tree, string our lights inside and out, and think ahead to holiday entertaining help us to remember the true meaning of hospitality this Christmas season. It is important that each of us be an agent for the kind of welcoming love which Jesus made real in the life of the community he gathered around him. All of us are naturally drawn to groups that are friendly, genuine, warm, and accepting. God’s love lives within people and their interactions. A welcoming community, like this, can transform lives at Christmas time and always.



Loving God, as we joyfully anticipate and prepare for the arrival of your Son help us to open our hearts, to be more welcoming, and to reflect your love in all that we say and do. Amen.


Pamela Foye
Parish Visitor