Collect: Second Sunday of Advent

Merciful God, who sent your messengers, the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:  Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Isaiah 11:1-10  . . . The prophet foresees a time when God will bring forth a righteous judge and a new spirit of peace in the world.

Psalm 72: 1-7, 18-19 . . . The psalm ask that God endow the king with compassionate justice and righteousness, and that his reign may extend over all nations and throughout all generations.

Romans 15:4-13 . . .  Paul points  to several passages from Hebrew scripture to show how God’s promise that Gentile people should come to praise God was being fulfilled 

Matthew 3:1-12 . . . the ministry of John the Baptist, his message of repentance and his prophecy of the mighty one to come.

Sermon

“But still, he is a really nice guy…the tell-tale words we use too often to soften the unkind things we say about others.” David Lose, Senior Pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, says that today’s passage, Matthew 3:1-12, is a biblical version of this phrase. Lose says that the gospel writers don’t quite know what to make of John the Baptist. Listen as Lose explores how the author of Matthew uses the person of John the Baptist in a unique way to point to Jesus