Malachi 3: 1–4
Luke 3: 1–6
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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be
acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
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I have to admit that for all kinds of superficial reasons Advent has
become my favorite season of the Church year. I love the
evergreens and twinkling white lights we use to decorate our front
porches this season – signs of God’s everlasting love,
signs of light piercing the darkness. I love putting candles in
the windows of my house – signs of welcome, warmth and love for
anyone who comes. And I love choosing gifts for my children and
grandchildren – small tokens of the love I bear them. To me,
the Advent season is all about hope and love, joy and faith.
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But this morning’s readings from Malachi and Luke remind me that
Advent is supposed to be about more than twinkling white lights and
finding just the right gift for people already in my family
circle. Advent is about the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, to
our hearts and to our world. And as the Bidding Prayer we read last
Sunday in our Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols reminds us,
it’s supposed to be a season when we pray for peace and justice
on this earth – not just in my home, my neighborhood, but all
over the earth. And not just pray for this but actually do
something for the poor and helpless, the hungry and oppressed. Advent
is meant to be a time when those of us who know what we are supposed to
be doing finally get around to doing it – for the well
being of all God’s people.
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And you know what? This is not a new message. Way back
in the 4th century BC, after the exiles had returned to Jerusalem from
Babylon, the Lord God was sending his children the same message, not
as general advice, but as a corrective for their bad behavior.
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You see, after the exiles had come back to Jerusalem you would think
their praise and thanks for a merciful God who’d allowed them to
return would be heartfelt and unending. But no! These
people were full of discontent, full of complaints.
Rebuilding the Temple had proved to be harder work than they’d
expected – and fingers were pointing every which way to assign
blame. Some fingers pointed at people suspected of shirking their
fair share of the work. Others pointed against priests suspected
of pocketing funds without paying the workers. And still
others – can you believe it – complained against God for
promises they thought he had made . . . but
hadn’t fulfilled. Each one of them, you see, thought God
owed them something – something better, something easier,
something more blessed.
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Finally, finally, the Lord God had had enough. So he sent them a
prophet named Malachi to warn them – all of them – to clean
up their acts. “Learn to serve one another,” he
told them, just as the Law of Moses told you to, hundreds of years
ago. “Learn to care for the least among
you. Care for them. Don’t oppress them. Learn
to offer praise and thanks to a God who has forgiven you, spared you,
time and time again.” If they would do that, the Lord told
them, he would send a special messenger to them, the
Messiah . . . and the Kingdom of God would
suddenly appear, right in their midst.
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Amen.
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