2nd Sunday of Advent

Year B:  December 4, 2011

First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11

Mia’s Story: A Sketchbook of Hopes and Dreams by Michael Foreman

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings…” Each Advent we hear words of comfort for people in a time of uncertainty, heralding a future filled with hope. Mia is a girl who lives in a garbage dump between a city and the mountains. One day she ends up in the mountains high above the city and the dump. In this place she discovers beautiful flowers growing beneath a clear sky of stars. She brings handfuls of the flowers home and over time their beauty spreads throughout the dump. Eventually she and her father take flowers to sell in the city with a shared dream that they will one day build a house of bricks. Mia’s experience in the mountains leads to a renewed hope for her family’s future. In Isaiah we are invited to a renewed hope for the future. Our hope is rooted in God’s ever-present Word and looks forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-15a

The Shine Man: A Christmas Story by Mary Quattlebaum

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: “…what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…” This text fits well in today’s readings that focus on the coming of the Lord and repentance and rebirth through baptism. These words in 2 Peter are an invitation to faithful living. The term repent means to turn around—God’s patience and timing gives each of us the opportunity to turn our own lives around and live in a way that reflects God’s promise for the future. The Shine Man is an unusual Christmas story in traditional terms, but quite nicely reveals the themes of preparing ourselves and turning our lives towards the Light during the season of Advent. We see the Shine Man’s heart changed over a period of days by a young boy, who is eventually revealed as the Heavenly Child. For the Shine Man, a turned around life does hasten the coming of God. With a changed heart, he takes the boy’s hand and they fly into the sky to spend the rest of the evening shining.

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:1-8

Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: In this reading from Mark our focus blends past, present, and future. We look back toward the promises of God proclaimed by the prophets, reflect on the current state of our lives, and look forward to the coming of Christ, our hope and salvation. Judy Yates Siker states that, despite the lack of a manger scene, this text is about birth. “On this second Sunday in Advent, it is good to tell of new beginnings, to tell about a God who breaks into our time with good news.” (Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 1, p 49) Mama Miti is also about good news and new beginnings. We read the true story of a woman, not unlike John, who, guided by the past, becomes a herald of good news for the future. When it seems as if there is no hope, people repeatedly appear before Wangari, seeking advice. “Thaya nyumba—peace, my people,” she proclaims, again and again, as she encourages them to plant a tree. Over time, Wangari’s advice changes the landscape of Kenya. So too, when we respond to the words of John the Baptist, and direct our lives towards the good news of the one who is to come, the landscape of our very lives cannot help but be changed.

This Lectionary Links post was written by regular contributor and Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Noell Rathbun-Cook.

Lectionary Links: Sunday, December 4, 2011 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.