Second Sunday of Advent

Baruch 5:1-9 (JB)

A reading from the prophet Baruch

Jerusalem – God will show you splendour.

Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress,

put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever,

wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you,

put the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head:

since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven,

since the name God gives you for ever will be,

‘Peace through integrity, and honour through devotedness’.

Arise, Jerusalem, stand on the heights

and turn your eyes to the east:

see your sons reassembled from west and east

at the command of the Holy One, jubilant that God has remembered them.

Though they left you on foot,

with enemies for an escort,

now God brings them back to you

like royal princes carried back in glory.

For God has decreed the flattening

of each high mountain, of the everlasting hills,

the filling of the valleys to make the ground level

so that Israel can walk in safety under the glory of God.

And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade

for Israel at the command of God;

for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory

with his mercy and integrity for escort.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Baruch 5:1-9 (NRSV)

A reading from the book of the prophet Baruch

Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,

and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.

Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;

put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting;

for God will show your splendour everywhere under heaven.

For God will give you evermore the name,

“Righteous Peace, Godly Glory.”

Arise, Jerusalem, stand upon the height;

look toward the east,

and see your children gathered from west and east

at the word of the Holy One,

rejoicing that God has remembered them.

For they went out from you on foot,

led away by their enemies;

but God will bring them back to you,

carried in glory, as on a royal throne.

For God has ordered that every high mountain

and the everlasting hills be made low

and the valleys filled up, to make level ground,

so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.

The woods and every fragrant tree

have shaded Israel at God’s command.

For God will lead Israel with joy,

in the light of his glory,

with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Ps 125 (JB)

R. The Lord has done great things for us;

we are filled with joy.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,

it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

on our lips there were songs. R.

The heathens themselves said:

‘What marvels the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us!

Indeed we were glad. R.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage

as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

will sing when they reap. R.

They go out, they go out, full of tears

carrying seed for the sowing:

they come back, they come back, full of song,

carrying their sheaves. R.

Psalm 126.1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5, 6 (R.3) (NRSV)

R. The Lord has done great things for us;

      we are filled with joy.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy. R.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

The Lord has done great things for us,

and we rejoiced. R.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

like the watercourses in the desert of the Negev.

May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy. R.

Those who go out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

carrying their sheaves. R.

Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 (JB)

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians

Show yourself sinless and without blame in the day of Christ.

Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present. I am quite certain that the One who began this good work in you will see that it is finished when the Day of Christ Jesus comes. God knows how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you. My prayer is that your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognise what is best. This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us for the glory and praise of God.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 (NRSV)

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Philippians

My brothers and sisters,

I thank my God every time I remember you,

constantly praying with joy

in every one of my prayers for all of you,

because of your sharing in the gospel

from the first day until now.

I am confident of this,

that the one who began a good work among you

will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

For God is my witness,

how I long for all of you

with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer,

that your love may overflow more and more

with knowledge and full insight

so that in the day of Christ

you may be pure and blameless,

having produced the harvest of righteousness

that comes through Jesus Christ

for the glory and praise of God.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Luke 3:4, 6 (JB)

Alleluia, alleluia!

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:

all people shall see the salvation of God.

Alleluia!

Luke 3:4,6 (NRSV)

Alleluia, alleluia!

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:

all people shall see the salvation of God.

Alleluia!

Luke 3:1- 6 (JB)

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke

All people shall see the salvation of God.

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice cries in the wilderness:

Prepare a way for the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley will be filled in,

every mountain and hill be laid low,

winding ways will be straightened

and rough roads made smooth.

And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 3:1-6 (NRSV)

A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius,

when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,

and Herod was ruler of Galilee,

and his brother Philip

ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis,

and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiphas,

the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

He went into all the region around the Jordan,

proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.