Part 1 of 2
Daily Office Readings for Sunday of the Second Week of Advent: Year 1
AM Psalms 148, 149, and150; PM Psalms 114 and 115;
Isaiah 5:1 to 7; 2nd Peter 3:11 to 18; Luke 7:28 to 35
“So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.” (2nd Peter 15 and 16)
Rather Christian of Peter to hold up Paul as “beloved brother,” given that the two did not get along very well. But Peter and Paul did agree that Jesus is Lord of all, and so should we also agree.
Part 2 of 2
Isaiah 40:1-11 Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1:1-8
“John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Mark 1: 4 and 5)
In February of 2018 I was baptized in the River Jordan. We were all Christian clergy. I can remember that when it came to be my turn to be among the baptizing ministers, there were more clergy in my line than the others and so my line was the longest line of clergy. When I inquired why, the response was, that these clergy folk wanted to be able to say that they were baptized in the River Jordan by “John.”
While I truly believe in one baptism for the remission of sins, This ceremonial baptism in Israel was something I couldn’t pass up. I enjoyed walking the Holy Land. But more important was re-living the life that our Lord Jesus experienced. The God in man who had no sin, was baptized for the remission of sins, our sins. We are so blessed because of Him. He has planted in us the seed of redemption and will soon come again to harvest his vineyard.
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to, and through, the saints of God, and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 