Third Sunday of Advent, Year A, RCL Isaiah 35:1-10, Canticle 15, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11 This is a story of two mothers, one old and one young and when they come together, an overwhelming feeling of love fills their hearts. Yes, Mary and Elizabeth knew each other. They were even cousins, but this feeling that fills Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit doesn’t come from Mary or their familial bond. No, it comes from Jesus, Mary’s unborn baby. John leaped at Mary’s greeting not because it was Mary but because he was in the very presence of his Lord Jesus. The recognition of truth, in who Jesus is, brought overwhelming joy to both Mary, Elizabeth, and her yet to be born baby. Filled with such j
Second Sunday of Advent, Year A, RCL Matthew 3:1-12 “There was a story in my Sunday School lesson text,” Jimmy Carter says in his book Living Faith,” about a group of Christian laymen involved in missionary work who descended on a small village near an Amish settlement. As is often the habit of eager amateurs seeking a possible convert, they confronted an Amish farmer and asked him, ‘Brother, are you a Christian?’ The farmer thought for a moment and then said, ‘Wait a few minutes.’ He wrote down a list of names on a tablet and handed it to the lay evangelists. ‘Here is a list of people who know me best. Please ask them if I am a Christian’”(1) This story illustrates that being a Christian is
