Monday, December 3, 2018


A Poem a Sunday
Advent II – C


 St. Luke 3:1-6 - NRSV

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler[a] of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler[b] of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler[c] of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 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.
5 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;
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

Footnotes:
a. Luke 3:1 Gk tetrarch
b. Luke 3:1 Gk tetrarch
c. Luke 3:1 Gk tetrarch
A Poem a Sunday
Advent II – C

A Reflection

The Voice

Nine months with no voice.
Zachariah lost his voice in the Temple when promised a son.
His voice was pregnant along with Elizabeth 
and until his voice gave birth to 
‘John.’

It is a terrible thing to lose one’s voice.
Have you ever lost your voice?  It is so frustrating.
Imagine the people of God losing their voice.
Isaiah, the prophet, is writing when God’s people, Judah, 
have been in exile.
They are tired, weary of pleading to God.  
They have lost their voice.

The prophet, Isaiah, gives voice to their inner yearnings, 
their desire to return to their land.
The prophet re-gains the voice for the people and cries out:

“In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord…”

We may have lost our voice in weariness.
Our inmost yearnings may remain unspoken.
Advent is a time when the Scripture and the Church
gives voice to our deepest yearnings.

Copyright @2018 by Rev. Kenneth R. Storck
Use with permission.
kennstorck@gmail.com


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