"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness"
It's Wednesday, so I'm thinking about repentance
On Wednesdays, I workshop the sermon, even when I’m not preaching on Sunday, like this week.
Scripture: Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,"
The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
I love pretty much everything about Advent - including the color. That beautiful sarum blue. Not quite the purple of Lent.
Lent is a season of penitence, and focuses on our sinfulness. Although Advent is a time of expectation, repentance is part of it, too. We tend to focus less on this in Advent - or at least I do.