Scripture Reflections for the Second Sunday of Advent
Year C, Lectionary 6
John the Baptist echoes God's call for us to return to the Lord. Although we have moved away from God by our sins, God is asking us to make that journey to God. Repenting and turning to face Jesus who is always coming to us.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Advent • Anticipate • Arrive • Change • Choice • Comfort • Commandment • Conversion • Courage • Demand • Depend • Desert • Disciple • Division • End • Environment • Evangelize • Exile • Exodus • Faith • Focus • Forgive • Gather • Gift • Healing • History • Hope • Interior • John the Baptist • Journey • Joy • Migrant • Mission • Mountain • Open • Path • Prepare • Prophecy • Prophet • Purpose • Real • Receive • Relationship • Repent • Return • Salvation • Struggle • Suffering • Transient • Unity • Valley • Wait • Way • Welcome • Works • Worry •
“and you can see here that he conceptualizes any good work that the Philippians might have done, is actually Christ working in them”
“The desert is a place of lack, the desert is a place of minimal resources. We cannot survive in the desert just on our own, we need the help of God, we need the help of one another.”
“The word of God comes to the ones out in the wilderness, not in the palaces. The word of God comes to the people on the ground because that's where God is, not at the top of systems but in the midst of people.”
“to remember that Christ is real is important, just as it is important for you to remember that you are real, and that Christ is really in you”
“evangelization is not about us, it's about Christ so be humble”
“What does listening to God or God's messengers look like for you? Do you desire more space for that kind of deep listening?”
“Advent acknowledges that God has already acted definitively on our behalf and God will act definitively in the future to bring his purposes to pass once and for all”
“We need to understand that every human being is worthy of our attention, is worthy of our assistance, is worthy of walking with us through this whole created order that is God's gift to us”
“The coming one does not eliminate the suffering and sorrow along life's path but fills us with saving joy, justice, forgiveness and mercy as we open ourselves to the great things God has done and continues to do for us”
“We have to change our habits with God's help if salvation is to shine in our lives”
“God is waiting for you and I to say 'yes, I too will bear Christ to the world when Christ comes, I will bear Christ'”
“what you command of us, oh Lord, we will not experience as a demand, as a means of closing ourselves off but as a way of growing in your grace, in your love, and in the power of your Holy Spirit now and always”
“It's sin that exiles us from God, it's sin that separates us from God, it's sin that, in a sense, drives us away from the promised land that God made to be our home”
“God did not create anyone to be independent, to be self-sufficient. God has created each one of us in a way that we are always in need of God and in need of one another.”
“There is nothing God can't do”
“Are you stopping God from completing the good work in you? Are you doing something that might be preventing God from truly bringing about the glory in you?”
“The incarnation is always dawning, always new”
“The word of God came not to anybody but to somebody who had been prepared. His name was John.”
“Will God's kingdom ever come? Will God's will ever be done on earth as it is in heaven? It's all about repentance, isn't it?”
“God isn't interested in us being perfect, God is interested in our willingness to try. And as we try we're called to remember that we are joyfully accompanied in good times and in bad.”
