Fourth Sunday of Advent

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING                                      2 Samuel 7:1-11; 16 (ESV)

Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”  And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”  But that same night the Word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord:  Would you build Me a house to dwell in?  I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for My dwelling.  In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”’  Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of Hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over My people Israel.  And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you.  And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.  And I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more.  And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over My people Israel.  And I will give you rest from all your enemies.  Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 

THE EPISTLE                                        Romans 16:25-27 (ESV)

Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ!  Amen.  And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before Me.  Your throne shall be established forever.’” 

THE HOLY GOSPEL                                                                    Luke 1:26-38 (ESV)

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.  And the virgin’s name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”  But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.  And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”  And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”  And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the Child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God.  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.  For nothing will be impossible with God.”  And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”  And the angel departed from her.

Third Sunday of Advent

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING                                        Zephaniah 1:7-16 (ESV)

Be silent before the Lord God!  For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated His guests.  And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice--“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire.  On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.  On that day,” declares the Lord, “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills.  Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!  For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off.  At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do ill.’  Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste.  Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”  The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.  A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

THE EPISTLE                                                                1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (ESV)

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.  For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.  For you are all children of light, children of the day.  We are not of the night or of the darkness.  So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.  For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him.  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

THE HOLY GOSPEL                                                  Matthew 25:14-30 (ESV)

[Jesus said:]  “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.  To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.  Then he went away.  He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.  So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.  But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.  Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.  And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’  His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.’  And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’  His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.’  He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.  Here you have what is yours.’  But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!  You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I scattered no seed?  Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.  So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.  For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.  But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Second Sunday of Advent

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING                                            Isaiah 40:1-11 (ESV)

Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.  A voice cries:  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  A voice says, “Cry!”  And I said, “What shall I cry?”  All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.  Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of Good News; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of Good News; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”  Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.  He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

THE EPISTLE                                                                            2 Peter 3:8-14 (ESV)

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!  But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 

THE HOLY GOSPEL                                                                          Mark 1:1-8 (ESV)

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness:  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight,’”  John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.  And he preached, saying, “After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING                                Isaiah 45:1-7 (ESV)

Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:   “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.  For the sake of My servant Jacob, and Israel My chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know Me.  I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know Me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.  I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.

THE EPISTLE                                                            1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (ESV)

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:  Grace to you and peace.  We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.  For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.  You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.  And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the Word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.  For not only has the Word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.  For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

THE HOLY GOSPEL                                                  Matthew 22:15-22 (ESV)

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and You do not care about anyone’s opinion, for You are not swayed by appearances.  Tell us, then, what You think.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”  But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put Me to the test, you hypocrites?  Show Me the coin for the tax.”  And they brought Him a denarius.  And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  They said, “Caesar’s.”  Then He said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  When they heard it, they marveled.  And they left Him and went away.