Saturday December 21 Advent 3
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Psalm 72
A prayer that the king will rule with justice for the poor, and that as a result all will have more than enough to live fully. This can easily applied as a prayer for our political leaders today.
Early Christians saw in this psalm, perhaps originally intended as a prayer that king David would rule with justice, an affirmation of the new world order being instituted by the birth of Christ.
Isaiah 28: 9-22 What’s Isaiah about?
The leaders of Jerusalem need to be treated as babies, so they can learn the basics. They have made a contract with death to keep themselves safe, but God is stronger and God’s acts will seem incomprehensible to such people. Our world has also made a contract with death, by relying on military terror to bring peace. In the same way, God’s offer of peace won’t seem to fit well into our world. We are about to see that new kind of peace arrive in Bethlehem.
Luke 1: 26-38 What’s Luke about?
Like her relative, Mary is also unable to have a child. But notice the contrasts: Elizabeth is too old, and Mary is too young and has no man, yet both become pregnant. Elizabeth’s husband has had a vision which he rejects and is stuck dumb. Mary accepts her vision and bursts into song about how the poor (herself but also the class of poor people) will be rescued into safety and dignity while those who profited from their poverty will loose their power to do so.
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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