Today is December 4th in the first week of Advent.


May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.   
  
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.  
  
Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 3.  


“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiber'i-us Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturae'a and Trachoni'tis, and Lysa'ni-as tetrarch of Abile’ne, in the high-priesthood of Annas and Ca'iaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechari'ah in the wilderness; and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying 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 brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” 
  

We have reflected this week on God our savior, who came to seek and to save, who came to make a smooth path toward salvation, who came to demonstrate the love of God through the forgiveness of sins by the Grace of God. We began with the image of a door, and we prepared our hearts to open the door in order to BEHOLD THE SAVIOR, lying in a manger, the God of the universe not only with us – but with the least of us, the last of us.  
  
Take a moment to quiet yourself and bring that image back to mind. Contemplate this paradox: it is through this infant: poor, vulnerable, a baby in the middle of the mess of a barn… that ‘all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ John the Baptist tells us that this salvation comes through a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 
  
Take time in personal prayer to consider your baptism, your own repentance, and the forgiveness of sins that is yours. Consider that this advent, you are not only waiting to behold the savior of the world, but YOUR savior as well.  
  
Our repentance comes in a moment, and in a lifetime of moments. When we behold the goodness of God, His compassion, tenderness, forgiveness, and blessing, we are reminded all too often of our distractions, our ridiculous irritabilities, by all the way we do not love the way He loves. Ask God to strengthen the gift of love in you, that in this season of Advent those around you might behold a glimpse of God’s celebration every time He saves that which is lost.  
  
Come, thou long expected Jesus, 
born to set thy people free; 
from our fears and sins release us, 
let us find our rest in thee. 
Behold, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… 
In the name of the Father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.