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BULLETIN FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8TH, 2024
TAKING FAITH HOME
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8TH, 2024
2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
INTRODUCTION
Forerunners and messengers advance the advent of our God. While John the
baptizer’s voice in the wilderness may be the principal focus of the day, Malachi’s
prophecy could as easily herald the coming Christ as forerunner of the Lord of
hosts. Finally all the baptized are called to participate in the sharing of the gospel.
In so doing we prepare the way for the coming of Jesus and assist all people in
capturing a vision of the “salvation of God.”
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Stir up our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your only Son. By his coming
give to all the people of the world knowledge of your salvation; through Jesus
Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
FIRST READING
MALACHI 3:1-4
God announces a covenant with Israel. A messenger like Malachi (his name
means “my messenger”) will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord by
purifying and refining God’s people, as silver and gold are refined.
1 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord
whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the
covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like
gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then
the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of
old and as in former years.
PSALM
LUKE 1:68-79
(Response) In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us. (Lk. 1:78)
68 Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel,
you have come to your people and set them free.
69 You have raised up for us a mighty Savior,
born of the house of your servant David.
(Response) In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us. (Lk. 1:78)
70 Through your holy prophets, you promised of old to save us from our enemies,
71 from the hands of all who hate us,
72 to show mercy to our forebears,
and to remember your holy covenant.
73 This was the oath you swore to our father Abraham:
74 to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship you without fear,
75 holy and righteous before you, all the days of our life.
(Response) In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us. (Lk. 1:78)
76 And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,
77 to give God’s people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
79 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(Response) In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us. (Lk. 1:78)
SECOND READING
1ST PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11
The apostle Paul was the pastor of many new churches. He writes in this letter
about his joy to be in partnership with the Christians of Philippi. Listen to how
tender-hearted Paul, sometimes a stern preacher, is with his friends as he
encourages them to grow in love and knowledge.
3 I thank my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always in every one of my
prayers for all of you, praying with joy 5 for your partnership in the gospel from the
first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in
you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to
think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are
my partners in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and
confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with
the tender affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may
overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to
determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and
blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through
Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord. All flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia. (Luke 3:4, 6)
GOSPEL READING
LUKE 3:1-6
John the Baptist is a herald of Jesus, whose way is prepared by “repentance for
the forgiveness of sins.” As we hear the careful record of human leaders, we sense the
spectrum of political and religious authority that will be challenged by this coming Lord.
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 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.’ ”
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SERMONS
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