Join us this Sunday, December 10, 2023, at 10:00 a.m.
2nd Sunday of Advent

"Just Peace"

Mark 1:4-8

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This coming Sunday, as we step into this second week of Advent, we leave behind Armageddon and the End Times to meet up with John the Baptizer.  We are invited by the Gospel of Mark 1:4-8 to prepare our hearts and minds for yet another Christmas, another coming of the Christ-child.   Our theme for the second Sunday is Peace, but the scripture is a focus on planning and being prepared, not that planning for peace is not one of our best options for that.  Presbyterians are a tribe of "preparers."  We spend years in school, perhaps college and even some of us, graduate school, preparing for our future.  We court months before proposals and then after proposals, months of preparation before the wedding.  As we step into our adult lives, whether we are single or building a family, we scrimp and save for our vacations, our dream homes, and maybe even more future education.  We have this nailed down. John did this calling on his hearers to "repent."  Now, the call to repent is simply the invitation to change the directions of our lives that may run contrary to the path to Christ. John, despite his notable reputation as a snazzy dresser and a gourmet, knew that for God to work in his life and to continue his work on earth, the Baptizer had to step aside and allow Christ to bring another message of preparation involving hope, peace, joy, love, and faith.  The Hsu Taylor Family will be lighting our second – Peace –candle at the beginning of our worship service. 

 

Pastor Ann