. . .  or The Second Week of the Seven-week Advent

Collects:

Proper 28

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen

Second Week of the Seven-week Advent

O Lord our God, you gave your law that righteousness might abound: Put  it into our hearts to love justice for others as much as we desire it for ourselves \, that, as we know you to be our judge, so we may welcome your reign as it is manifested through Jesus Christ our savior, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise forever and ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 65:17-25 . . . a blessed time when God will overcome many of life’s shortcomings and frustrations

Canticle, First song of Isaiah . . . the vindication of those who have placed their confidence in the Lord God

2 Thessalonians 3;6-13 . . . Paul deals with the problem of those who are so expectant that the Lord will come soon and are so meddlesome in the affairs of others that they have given up their daily work.

Luke 21: 5-19 . . . the disciples are forewarned of the destruction of the Jewish temple and of great upheavals in the natural and supernatural order that must take place before the end of history.

The Sermon

Imagine being called into your boss’s office and being told that you’re just not cut out for your position, the one you had dreamed about as a child. Michael Renninger pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Richmond, Virginia tells of how he was called into the priest’s office at his monastery and told that he would never be a priest because he “did not have what it takes.” Renninger says, “my world collapsed around me.” He gives us a personal take on Luke 21:5-19, Jesus’s prediction of the destruction of the temple. Listen as he preaches on how painful endings are not the end and how this passage challenges us to look at the world differently.