Sunday December 15 Advent 3
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Psalm 63
I delight in the certainty of God’s protection and victory over evil. The violence in verses 9 and 10 can be understood as an expression of our intense desire that all evil will come to an end.
Psalm 98
The people, the nations, and the whole of creation delight in God’s victory and rejoice when God comes to put all creation right. This psalm is used at Easter, and is often used on Sundays, mini-anniversaries of Easter. There is some lovely imagery of the sea deliberately making a noise with its waves and rivers doing the same by clapping their hands.
Isaiah 13: 6-13 What’s Isaiah about?
Seeing the approaching disaster, Isaiah interprets it as God being absolutely determined to remove the evil of exploitation, and even the sky and stars will be shaken as God does this. As in many of the psalms, God’s “wrath and fierce anger” should be understood not as God losing God’s temper, but as an expression of the consequences of our ignoring justice, and of God’s infinite power to overcome evil. Indeed, our assumptions about life will be shaken as we discover that loving sacrifices on our part will be required to put the world right.
As we prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas Isaiah reminds us that God’s arrival in an animal’s food trough challenges humanity’s self-serving assumptions about how the world is to function.
John 3: 22-30 What’s John about?
John willingly gives priority to Jesus as the best man at a wedding does for the groom. As Jesus arrives at Christmas, how might we imagine ourselves in the supporting role of best man, or maid of honour, as God makes the ultimate commitment to humanity and all creation?
This week’s collect:
God of power and mercy,
you call us once again
to celebrate the coming of your Son.
Remove those things which hinder love of you,
that when he comes,
he may find us waiting in awe and wonder
for him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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