Sunday 7th December 2025  The Second Sunday of Advent

 

O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us, and with great might succour us;  that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever.  Amen.

 

A reading from Isaiah    (11.1-10)

 

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

    His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.  He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;  he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.  Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

    The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together;  and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.  They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;  for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

    On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples;  the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

 

This is the word of the Lord.

    Thanks be to God.

 

Psalm 72. 1-7, 18-19

 

1    Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son.

2    May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.

3    May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.

4    May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

5    May he live while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.

6    May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.

7    In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

18       Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.

19       Blessed be his glorious name for ever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.

 

A reading from Romans    (15.4-13)

 

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.  May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.  For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

    As it is written, ‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name’;  and again he says, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;  and again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him’;  and again Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;  in him the Gentiles shall hope.’

    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

This is the word of the Lord.

    Thanks be to God.

 

Listen to the Gospel of Christ according to St Matthew   (3.1-12)

    Glory to you, O Lord.

 

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’

    This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:  “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”’

    Now  John  wore  clothing  of  camel’s

hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

    Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

    But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”;  for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees;  every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me;  I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

 

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

    Praise to you, O Christ.

 

Reflection - AE

 

It’s lovely to be here this morning, on this second Sunday of Advent.  This rather murky morning, when the weather mainly makes us want to stay in, but maybe before we leave here the sun will suddenly come out, and when it does that at this time of year it is a real blessing.

 

This second Sunday gives us a chance to step back and look at Advent as a whole, and what it’s really all about.

 

Well, OK, it’s about the coming of Christ to earth, but it’s about much more than just getting ready for Christmas.

 

Looking at these readings from here, 2,000 years after Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem, we can see that much of this is pointing to his coming in what is still our future.  That descendant of Jesse, so the house of David, Jesus, would be born on earth, but much of what he was to achieve is still in our future - the time when the wolf shall live with the lamb, the child shall lead the lion, the nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp.

 

That line is especially interesting - asp, a snake, and the nursing child, so tying Adam and Eve’s story to the nursing child, the nativity, tying the very beginning of the story to the beginning of the new chapter, with God himself not just walking with man in the garden in the evening, but himself living as a man, and then again further forward to when all creation might live together, in harmony.

 

The time when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

 

I don’t think we’re quite there yet.

 

When John the Baptist was proclaiming Christ’s coming he also was pointing to a time ahead, when Christ would baptise with the Holy Spirit, which he did at Pentecost, but then ahead again he would rule with justice, the justice he himself did not receive in his human lifetime, but he would cut down the trees that don’t bear good fruit.

 

John allows the impression that this might happen soon, but Peter, writing to the Romans decades later, is focussed on that future but also on how people can live in a way that is closer to that future here on heart, before the return of Christ in glory.

 

How people might live God’s future now, both the circumcised Jews and the gentiles together, both filled with joy and peace in believing, abounding in hope, and living in harmony with one another, with one voice glorifying God.

 

Sadly we still see plenty of evidence that that is not yet happening either.

 

So from that we see that Advent is more a time to prepare for a further future than it is to celebrate Jesus’s birth.

 

But we also have to remember that Jesus was born, died, was resurrected, and is here right now.

 

Advent is very much the time to make sure we ourselves are ready to greet him within our own hearts, right now.  To embrace his coming not only in the past or in the future but also within each of us in this lifetime.

 

Once we know he’s there with us, its hard to forget, that he’s right beside us, just behind our shoulder, and might make his presence felt at any moment, although, weirdly, especially when we really need him.  Like Superman, but very real.

 

Like the sunshine in this horrible December weather, suddenly and unannounced he just turns up, and then its wonderful.

 

But actually the thing about the sun is that it is really there all the time, but sometimes we just can’t see it.

 

The thing about me standing here telling all of you this, though, is that although its nice to be reminded, all of us here already know Christ is with us, and one day, one way or another, hopefully and with his grace we might be with him.

 

The problem, which is highlighted from November onwards, is that so many people don’t know that.

 

Despite Isaiah promising this possibly as much as ten thousand years ago, John the Baptist two thousand years ago, and the Bible, telling us all Jesus’s own story, being far and away the most often published book around the world, an awful lot of people don’t know.  The earth is not yet full of the knowledge of the Lord.

 

They think Advent is about chocolate in your Advent calendar, and getting the tree sorted.

 

And it’s no good us sitting in here, keeping the truth to ourselves.  We have to go out from here, whatever the weather, in whatever way we each best can, maybe by just being kind, by praying maybe, if we can, by actually talking to them, and show them the truth.

 

Amen.

 

Father in heaven, you sent your Son to redeem the world and will send him again to be our judge:  give us grace so to imitate him in the humility and purity of his first coming that, when he comes again, we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.