As we come to confess our sins on
this second Sunday of Advent, I’d like us to think about a couple of things.
The four weeks before Christmas are called Advent. When we prepare for Easter,
we have a time to prepare for it called Lent, which is a season of repentance
and reflection. Sometimes people give something up for Lent. But Advent is also
a time of repentance. Why is it that when we prepare for Christmas, we prepare
for it with repentance?
Now, we might think about all
kinds of things that we might think we need in order to receive Jesus. We might
think that we need faith and love. We might think that we need joy. And those
things are good things. Of course, we need faith—but our faith is often so
weak. And our love is so impure, and our joy is so incomplete. But there is
something that we can be sure is completely perfect in us—and that is our sin.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the angel says to Joseph about Mary: She will bear
a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their
sins.
Do we come to receive Jesus and
his word and his gifts today as a sinner, or would we rather pretend that we’re
not sinners? In our Gospel reading today, we read about John the Baptist,
simply going out and preaching: Repent. Prepare the way of the Lord, make
his paths straight.
So as we come to confess our sins
today, let’s allow God’s word, his commandments, his law, prepare the way
forward and show us our need for Christ. But then let’s also direct our eyes
not on ourselves, but on Jesus, who forgives our sin, and even this morning,
here in our church, right now, comes to speak his pure word of forgiveness to
us. This word is a word that comes from Jesus’ pure love, and is completely
true, and is completely powerful. So let’s pray…
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