A Force Will Awaken - 2nd Sunday of Advent Devotion

A brief prayer is offered that you can add to your daily prayers this week. The scripture is from our Sunday Service Bulletin for 6 December 2015.

Gospel Reading
Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And 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 Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying 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 become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

Devotion:  Make Way for a Royal Visitor

In this Second Sunday in Advent, there surely are a lot of action words and statements in our Gospel text: “Proclaim, repent, prepare, make straight, be filled, made low, become straight, become level.” In the times of the writing of this text, these action phrases are the way the citizenry would prepare the path for a royal visitor. If we look up the plain noun “advent” in the dictionary it means “the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event”. There is a little more here, though, than meets the eye, the vision that first comes maybe is that we are being advised to make our surroundings more welcoming or pleasing to the sight for an important visitor. In thinking more deeply about the context, I think this is John the Baptist talking about straightening up, leveling up, and cleaning up our lives to make room for our Savior and about being repentant.  When we sinners repent, we see and accept the salvation of God. One more thought, once we get our own path straightened out, don’t forget that we need to be making way and clearing the path to God for others. Let us share God’s amazing gift.

CLV prayer: “Lord help us be prepared for Your Advent message.  Amen”
Blessings to you.
Joe