The week’s lessons
First Lesson: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Canticle 15: Luke 1:46-55
Second Lesson: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
The Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
A message from Rev. Dave
Today is Gaudete Sunday in the Advent Cycle. Gaudete, Latin for rejoice, shifts away briefly from the Purple candles of prayer, penance, and preparation to a Rose candle, signaling time to rejoice. Today we remember to rejoice in the coming of the Lord as the light continues to brighten. This week, we will light three candles as the light becomes more visible and starts to brighten the dark corners of the room and our hearts.
Let us pray.
May the Lord’s love shine in our hearts.
And may God’s peace be with us all.
The Lord is our faith and our life.
Our hope is in the coming of the Lord.
Light the first, second, and third candle.
Let us pray that we may grow in love for each other as the Lord comes to us.
God in Heaven, may we, your family who look forward to the birth of Christ, experience the joy of your love and celebrate the birth with a new sense of love for each other.
Amen.
Thomas Merton once wrote, “We need to remind ourselves that what we are doing is not human action; it is divine. This is God’s work, not our work. We must be very conscious that today people are too often carried away by the merely human side of what is to be done, and they concentrate too much on their own efforts and even their own desires, fancies, and inclinations. All these things are good but secondary, and what is secondary has to remain in second place. What is first is God’s work, God’s spirit.”
In God’s time, not ours.
Yours in Christ.
Dave+