Second Sunday of Advent 6pp DL 2015:Layout 1 14/10/2015 11:20 Page 1
Meaning of the Advent Wreath:
l The 1st purple candle is lit on the 1st Sunday in
Advent, Nov 29th, and is the candle of HOPE.
l The 2nd purple candle is lit on the 2nd Sunday in
Advent, Dec 6th, and is the candle of PEACE.
l The 4th purple candle is lit on the 4th Sunday in
Advent, Dec 20th, and is the candle of LOVE.
Making Space for Wisdom
Second Sunday of Advent 2015
l The central white candle is lit on Christmas Day as
the light of Christ enters the world when Jesus is
born.
Y
M BL
LOVE
TENDERLY
HU
T J US
l The wreath is evergreen symbolising everlasting
life, and in the shape of a circle because a circle
has no beginning and no end. It goes on forever,
just like God’s love for us.
AC
Lord, no one is a stranger to you
and no one is ever far from your loving care
In your kindness watch over refugees
and asylum seekers.
those separated from their loved ones;
those who are lost,
those who have been exiled from their homes.
Bring them safely to this place
where they long to be
and help us always to show your kindness
to.strangers, remembering the kindness
of strangers to our ancestors.
l The 3rd pink candle is lit on the 3rd Sunday in
Advent, Dec 13th, also known as Gaudete Sunday,
and is the candle of JOY.
LY
T
(based on Australian Justice Prayer)
K
7. Closing prayer
L
WA
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Tel: 453 5348
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Website: www.partnersinfaith.ie
25 Cork Street, Dublin 8.
Tel: 453 5348
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.partnersinfaith.ie
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Second Sunday of Advent 6pp DL 2015:Layout 1 14/10/2015 11:20 Page 4
1. Welcome and Opening Prayer
3. Quiet Moment
6. Background notes for Luke 3:1-6
Lord, as we wake to a fresh new day
Your gift of breath pulses through us
The air surrounds us
Water cleanses us and refreshes us
Earth feeds us
The sun warms us.
People can take time to read over the text again
for themselves and pick out words or short phrases
that strike them and say them out loud. When
everyone has had a chance to say their word/
phrase, they can briefly say why such a word/
phrase struck them, in relation to themselves or their
community or the world.
Luke sets this scene in the context of the political
power of the Romans and Jewish kings and the
religious power of the Jewish high priests.
People, especially the poor, felt these powers
heavily. They had seen the Romans levelling their
countryside to make roads for the invading,
devastating armies. They knew the oppressive
power of the religious laws impossible to fulfil,
which left them believing that they were unloved,
unacceptable to God.
Let us not take these for granted
Let us be aware of being sustained all the time.
Let us find ways to give thanks for them
To recognize your kindly presence through them,
To use the energy they give us
To love tenderly
act justly
and walk humbly with You.
(NB This is not a time for argument or discussion)
Far from the seats of power emerges John, a
nobody, but soon to become a threat because of
the many people streaming to him.
John calls people to make way, not for
oppressive, dehumanising power but for God,
who is not about destruction or condemnation
but about restoration. God active, not passive,
sifting, sorting, pruning, filling in holes, restoring
all creation to its real potential.
S. Ni Ch
2. Gospel text: Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
Caesar -when Pontius Pilate was governor of
Judea, Herod Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother
Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and
Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene - during the high
priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of
God came to John son of Zechariah in the
wilderness. He went into all the country around
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:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him,
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth
And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
4. Reflection Questions for Luke 3:1-6
1. When you have seen or heard of people
working compassionately to ease people’s
situations, what happens to you?
2. When you hear mention of ‘ God’s will’ what
do you understand by it?
3. What would you like sorted or restored in
your life?
5. Prayers
Mentioning situations and people we would like
to pray for.
A form of baptism existed in Jewish tradition but
it was for gentiles wanting to convert to Judaism.
But John’s baptism places Jews and non-Jews in
the same category. This baptism of his is a sign
of people’s willingness to open their hearts,
change their outlook and commit themselves to
the God of hope and life and joy, enemy of
oppression, poverty and distress.