Second Sunday in Advent

Our readings for the Second Sunday in Advent are:

1. Isaiah 11: 1-10
   
2. Psalms 72: 1-2, 78, 12-13, 17
   
3. Romans 15: 4-9
   
4. Matthew 3: 1-12
   

• Transformation, not starting over
  
• Time, ultimately, is on God's side.  If He builds something and it doesn't turn out the way that he planned, he could just start over.  But He never does.  Several of the kings who were the descendants of David were pretty miserable, but God chose to bring Jesus forth from the house and lineage of David.
• Think of a time in your life that you felt as though you had failed.  Was there any good that came out of that?
• Do you think that there might yet be more good to come from that experience?
• So, was it really a failure?
• Do we always have to succeed as Christians?
  

• Celebrating Justice
  
• Justice is all about making sure that everyone receives what is due them.  Fair enough, but how do we tell what is due someone?  In the University setting that I live in, an affordable, quality education is considered everyone's due.  A mere hundred years ago, that would have been considered abject nonsense.  Does justice evolve?
• Think back to a time when you were treated unjustly.  How did that make you feel - fearful, angry, outraged, depressed, ...?
• Once you had suffered that injustice, what should have happened to right that wrong?
• Ultimately, who is it that should be righting that wrong, even today?
• Coming out of that experience, do you feel any kinship with others who are unjustly treated?
  

• Welcoming one another
  
• One problem with getting old is painful memories.  Some years back we had a young lady in RCIA who was making minimum wage, barely getting by on her income and permanent disability from her live-in boyfriend.  He was abusive, but she loved him anyway, and he helped pay the rent.  To this day, I still don't know how we as a church should have welcomed that young seeker into our midst.
• When/where have you been welcomed?
• How did that make you feel?
• What are some tangible ways that you are welcoming?
• What would disqualify someone from being welcome here?
  

• Resting on your laurels
  
• Sometimes, living a life of faith can get harder with time.  Your faith life becomes almost like the air you breathe, taken for granted, invisible, hardly thought about.
• How do you celebrate your relationship with Jesus?
• How has that changed through the years?
• How do you hope that relationship will sustain you in the years ahead?
• What are you doing to make that relationship stronger/deeper?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where/what is God transforming my life lately?
   
2. Where can I help make justice emerge?
3. Who are the lost in my world who need a warm welcome?
   
4. Where is God inviting me to go deeper with Him?

Shalom!