The Second Sunday of Advent

The Second Sunday of Advent
Sunday, December 10, 2023

The Collect:
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 for ever. Amen.
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God of hope, you call us from the exile of our sin with the good news of restoration; you build a highway through the wilderness; you come to us and bring us home. Comfort us with the expectation of your saving power, made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Old Testament Lesson:
Isaiah 40:1-11 KJV
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
² Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
³ The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
⁵ And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
⁶ The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
⁷ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
⁸ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
⁹ O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
¹¹ He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

The Psalm:
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 KJV
Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land:*
thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
² Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,*
thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
⁸ I will hear what God the Lord will speak:*
for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
⁹ Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;*
that glory may dwell in our land.
¹⁰ Mercy and truth are met together;*
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
¹¹ Truth shall spring out of the earth;*
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
¹² Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good;*
and our land shall yield her increase.
¹³ Righteousness shall go before him;*
and shall set us in the way of his steps.

The Epistle:
2 Peter 3:8-15 KJV
⁸ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
¹¹ Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
¹² Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
¹³ Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
¹⁴ Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
¹⁵ And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

The Gospel:
Mark 1:1-8 KJV
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
² As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
³ The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
⁴ John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
⁵ And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
⁶ And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
⁷ And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
⁸ I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.