“Preparing To Receive“, by Rev. Mike Holly
Christmas is almost here. It’s another year and it’s another opportunity for us to remember why it is so significant. The season of Advent is the Church’s gift to help us prepare for the arrival of Jesus Christ, born for us. Angels visit and begin to plant the seeds of hope as they visit Zechariah and Mary. But it is not just hope for these two families. Zechariah and Elizabeth discover that their promised child would prepare the way for Mary’s promised child who would be the Hope for the World.
One strange occurrence in this story is the silence that suddenly strikes Zechariah. His lack of trust when the angel told him of God’s plan rendered him mute until the day that his son, John the Baptist, is born. Once Zechariah writes the name the angel told him to give his son, he breaks into praise. And that is where we find ourselves as we turn to the Scripture today. We read the words that Zechariah sang aloud because they remind us what lies ahead. For God has not forgotten us, no matter how bad things get in this world. We need to remember that our God is the kind of God who breaks into the world returning hope and peace to those who need it.
Because by the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us as Jesus Christ comes to us.
~Mike Holly
The Word
Luke 1:68-79
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
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