Philippians 1:3-11
3 I thank my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy 5 for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
The Second Sunday of Advent 2024
The scriptures for today bring a wealth of history, encouragement, and hope.
Baruch
Baruch comes from the second canon or deuterocanonical books ("apocrypha") that for a while were not usually included in protestant bibles. Roman Catholic and most Orthodox churches accept them as part of the biblical canon; Episcopal churches sometimes read passages from the apocrypha in place of the other appointed texts from the sixty-six books of the protestant bible. Martin Luther believed they were useful devotional reading, though not on the same level as the rest of scripture. But Luther wanted to remove seven books from the New Testament!
• Baruch 5:1-9
Malachi
In its placement Malachi is the last book in the Christian Old Testament, but probably not the latest written. Is this messenger of the covenant John the Baptist? The refiner's fire purifies—it doesn't punish, though it may be painful for a while. Next week in Luke 3:16, John the Baptist will announce Jesus will baptize us with water and with fire.
This reading always reminds me of the year I worked for a valve factory. Bodies of the 26" main steam isolation valves had to undergo heat treatment to remove impurities that would interfere with their usefulness and longevity. In the same way, heat treatments refine us and remove our impurities. In Handel's Messiah, this passage from Malachi is a recitative and aria for the bass soloist.
• Malachi 3:1-4
Luke :: Gospel Reading
Luke places everything in history, so during the reign of five named Roman political appointees and when Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, John the Baptist proclaimed a "baptism of repentance" that was not an unusual feature of Israelite national life.
• Luke 3:1-6
The end of this reading also made it into the Messiah. The tenor "Comfort Ye" recitative segues into "Every Valley Shall be Exalted."
• Isaiah 40:3-5
As Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann observed, "Second Isaiah [chapters 40 – 55] funded Handel's Messiah." But other books contributed, including Malachi we're hearing from today.
Luke :: Psalm
• Luke 1:68-79, the Benedictus – "Blessed" – sung by John the Baptist's father is one of the canticles or psalms in Luke. Zechariah refers to history, prophecy, covenant, and to the future of God's people foretold by his soon to be born son. All of us in the church are part of that future!
Philippians
I've linked to the other four scriptures, but I posted the second reading from Philippians. Despite all of those passages approaching perfection for Advent anticipation, I wanted to say a little about the apostle Paul's beautiful tribute and prayer for his beloved congregation at Philippi. We heard about the founding-gathering of First Church Philippi in the book of Acts. The lectionary programs it for Easter 6C so it's coming up in a few months, I wrote about it on Pentecost 17 a little over a year ago:
• Acts 16:9-15 for Pentecost 17A September 2023
Paul wrote his "epistle of joy" Philippians when he was under house arrest or in a dungeon in Ephesus or in Rome. We call it a captivity letter because of his incarceration, yet it mostly reveals Paul captured by and captive to Jesus Christ.
Where We Live
A little over a week ago the USA and Australia celebrated Thanksgiving (a few other countries have similar observances; our best friend and close neighbor Canada's is in October, because harvest time is earlier that far north). It's been a heavy year. It's been a heavy decade. It's been a heavy century. It feels as if 9102001 was the last ever (sort of) normal day.
But there's always so much to be thankful for! A harvest of righteousness. from verse 11 is the header for this scripture on the Vanderbilt Divinity School lectionary page. The apostle Paul is far away from Philippi, yet he brings those beloveds into his here and now. He remembers partnering with them in the past, prays for their present, and anticipates their gospeled futures.
What have you been thankful for recently? On Thanksgiving day did you talk about your blessings? Every evening I pray a list of what I was thankful from that day. It usually starts slowly, but the list gets longer and longer. Do you have a thanksgiving prayer or journaling practice?
