The
Second Sunday in Advent
Contemporary
As We Gather
Advent and Baptism! These two hardly seem to go
together until you hear the words of today’s Holy Gospel. Advent is a time of
preparation. It is a time to make
straight paths for the Lord. John the
Baptist was commissioned to do this by “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for
the forgiveness of sins.”
We daily sin much.
Does this mean that we have fallen from our baptism? Martin Luther reminds us to return daily to
our baptism. For repentance is simply
returning to baptism, drowning the old sinful self and allowing the new person
to emerge in forgiveness and new life.
Make straight paths for the Lord every day of Advent
by returning to your baptism in repentance and living the new life in Christ.
May our lives shine brightly in the world so that people around us will be
prepared for the coming of the Lord.
Opening
Medley:
The Glory of the Heavens
LIGHTING THE
ADVENT WREATH - THE SECOND CANDLE:
P As we light
the second candle on our Advent wreath, we marvel at our Savior’s birth that
God’s own Son would make our world His own and give His holy, precious blood
and innocent suffering and death for sinners such as us. May the path into our
hearts be made straight through repentance as we prepare for the Savior of the
Nations to come.
C Savior
of the nations, come,
Virgin’s Son, make here Your home!
Marvel now, O heav’n and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.
SONGS OF ADVENT ANTICIPATION
Emmanuel
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, His name is called
Emmanuel;
God with us, revealed in us,
His name is called Emmanuel.
(Repeat
Song)
Jesus Name Above All Names
Jesus, name above all names;
beautiful Savior, glorious Lord.
Emmanuel, God is with us;
blessed Redeemer, Living Word.
(Repeat
Song)
Introit
P Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be
saved!
C Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead
Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon
the cherubim, shine forth.
P You brought a vine out of Egypt; it took deep root and filled the land.
C Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we
may be saved!
Glory
be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the
beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
P Restore us, O God;
C Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Ps. 80:1, 8a, 9b, 7; antiphon: Ps. 80:3
Collect of the Day
P ... Stir up our
hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by His
coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds; through the same Jesus
Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and forever.
C Amen.
Reading from the Book of Concord
The
Smalcald Articles, Part III,
Article
III, Repentance 37-40
Confession, too, cannot be false, uncertain,
or fragmentary. A person who confesses that everything in him is nothing but
sin includes all sins, excludes none, forgets none. Neither can the
satisfaction be uncertain, because it is not our uncertain, sinful work.
Rather, it is the suffering and blood of the innocent Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world [John 1:29 ].
This is the repentance John the Baptist
preaches [Matthew 3:1-12]. And afterward, Christ does this in the Gospel [Mark 1:15 ], and so do we…
In Christians, this repentance continues
until death. For through one’s entire life, repentance contends with the sin
remaining in the flesh. Paul testifies that he wars with the law in this
members (Romans 7:14 -25)
not by his own powers, but by the gift of the Holy Spirit that follows the
forgiveness of sins [Romans 8:1-17]. This gift daily cleanses and sweeps out
the remaining sins and works to make a person truly pure and holy.
Old Testament Reading Isaiah 40:1–11
1Comfort,
comfort my people, says your God.
2Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry
to her
that her
warfare is ended,
that her
iniquity is pardoned,
that she
has received from the Lord’s hand
double
for all her sins.
3A voice cries:
“In the
wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be lifted up,
and
every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven
ground shall become level,
and the
rough places a plain.
5And the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed,
and all
flesh shall see it together,
for the
mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6A voice says, “Cry!”
And I
said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh
is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the
field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades
when the
breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely
the people are grass.
8The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the
word of our God will stand forever.
[9Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion,
herald of good news;
lift up
your voice with strength,
O
Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it
up, fear not;
say to the
cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10Behold, the Lord God
comes with might,
and his
arm rules for him;
behold,
his reward is with him,
and his
recompense before him.
11He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will
gather the lambs in his arms;
he will
carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with
young.]
Gradual
P Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion
C Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem
P Behold, your king is coming to you;
C righteous
and having salvation.
P Blessèd is he who comes in the name of the
Lord.
C From the house of the Lord we bless you.
Zech. 9:9;
Ps. 118:26, alt.
Epistle Reading 2
Peter 3:8–14
8Do not overlook this
one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slow to fulfill his
promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any
should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10But the day
of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a
roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth
and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11Since all these things are
thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness
and godliness, 12waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of
God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the
heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13But according to his
promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness
dwells.
14Therefore, beloved, since
you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or
blemish, and at peace.
P Alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;
C all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Alleluia.
Luke 3:4b, 6
Response
to the Reading of God’s Word
Lift Up Your Heads
Holy Gospel Mark
1:1–8
1The beginning of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2As it is written in Isaiah
the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your
face,
who will prepare your way,
3the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
4John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And
all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being
baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now
John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and
ate locusts and wild honey. 7And he preached, saying, “After me
comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to
stoop down and untie. 8I have baptized you with water, but he will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Sermon
Song
O Come, Be Born Again
Emmanuel
Offertory
Joy Has Dawned
Closing
Glorious Light
All scripture quotations are from The Holy
Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a
division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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