[RCL] Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:4-9 or Canticle 15 [or Canticle 3]; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally known as “Gaudete” or “Rejoice” Sunday, so called because of the heightened excitement in anticipation for the birth of Christ. But as we listen to the gospel appointed for this day, it may…

[RCL]: Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:4-9 or Canticle 15; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us…” begins our collect for today. This sounds like one thing, but it means something else entirely, doesn’t it? It sounds like God is out at Hogwarts with Harry Potter, stirring…

We are well into the third week of the Advent season. Advent is a season of waiting, expectation, and preparation for the coming of the Messiah. But who is this Messiah? Do we have any preconceived idea how we would like this Messiah to be? John the Baptist seems to have certain ideas. In today’s…

What happens when our expectations don’t get met? How about when it’s our expectations about God that don’t get met? A few years ago, Steve Johnson, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, voiced his surprise on Twitter when things didn’t turn out the way he hoped during a football game. After Johnson dropped a…

A highway shall be there,and it shall be called theHoly Way;the unclean shall not travel on it,but it shall be for God’speople;no traveler, not even fools, shallgo astray.(Isaiah 35:8-10) The earlier verses (5-6) of this beautiful chapter in Isaiah are much more familiar than the few lines quoted above. The opening of blind eyes and…

More great lessons as we move into the third Sunday of our new liturgical year. The Psalm and Isaiah talk about how wonderful life in the kingdom of God is, life in the presence of God and in the joyful freedom of God’s reign. They are absolutely exuberant: all the enormous wrongs of human existence…