The Second Sunday of Advent Year B
Taken from Lectionary Reflections - Year B
Description
The Second Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 40.1–11
2 Peter 3.8–15a
Mark 1.1–8
The trouble is that we think we know the end of the story. We think that this time of waiting that we call Advent is all building up to the joyful time of Christmas. In fact, it can hardly be called a ‘time of waiting’ at all. The Christmas lights and Christmas decorations often precede Advent, and some people are well into their Christmas shopping. No shocks for us, we know what to expect. When we’ve celebrated the birth of the baby, everything will get back to normal again until next year.
So who is this strange, hairy man, striding out of the desert, shouting? Doesn’t he know that this is a time for the family, not a time for unpleasantness? Why is he shouting about repentance? And he seems to have skipped all the bit about the angels and the shepherds, surely the real point of Christmas, and gone straight onto something about baptism and the Holy Spirit...
Taken from Lectionary Reflections – Year B by Jane Williams