So be patient! – brothers/sisters – until the coming of the Lord. Look! – the farmer waits for the precious crop from the ground being patient for it until it receives the autumn and spring rain. Be patient! – you also – Strengthen you hearts because the coming of the Lord is arriving
Do not grumble! – brothers/sisters – against each other so that you will not be judged. Look! the judge stands at the door. As an example take the suffering and the patience of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Look! we consider those who have endured fortunate. You have heard about the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the intention of the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me. O Love, who redeemed me, fill up in me whatever part of your love has fallen into neglect within me. O Love, O God, who first loved me, grant that with my whole heart, and with my whole soul, and with my whole strength, I may love you.
So (John) said to the crowd, who had come out to be baptized by him, ‘Offspring of snakes who warned you all to flee from the coming wrath? So bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say amongst yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God can raise from these stones children for Abraham.’ And already the axe is ready at the root of the trees. So every tree not bearing good fruit is being chopped down and being thrown into fire.’
The people being in expectation and all wondering in the hearts about John whether he might be the C hrist John answered them all: ‘On the one hand I baptize you, but on the other, the one stronger than me comes, the one whom I am not worthy to loose the straps of his sandals. He will baptise you all in the Holy Spirit and fire. who cleans out his threshing floor with the shovel in his hand and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn in unquenchable fire.
Grant, Lord, that we may hold to you without parting, worship you without wearying, serve you without failing; faithfully seek you, happily find you, and forever possess you, the only God,blessed now and for ever. Amen
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight —indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
Thank you, dear Jesus, for all you have given me, for all you have taken away from me, for all you have left me.
May the God, of endurance and encouragement, give to you the same mind among one another according to Christ Jesus, so that in like mind with one voice you might glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another, because Christ welcomed you too to God’s glory.
So may the God of hope fill you all with all joy and peace in believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union, where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
And Zachariah, his father, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying:
Worthy of praise is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people. And he raised a horn of salvation for us, in the house of David, his servant (or child). As he said through the mouths of his holy prophets from eternity. Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate us: to (show) mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, a promise which he (made) to Abraham, our father, which he gave us without fear freedom from the hand our enemies to serve him in holiness and righteousness before him for all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord, to prepare his paths, to give to his people, knowledge of salvation, by the forgiveness of their sins, because of our God’s deepest mercy, upon us the Sunrise will visit us from the heights, to give light to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace.
O Lord Jesus Christ, stay beside me to defend me, within me to guide me, before me to lead me, and above me to bless me, that with you and in you, I may live, and move and have my being, for ever and ever. Amen.
In the fifteenth year of the rule of Emperor Tiberias Pontius Pilate being governor of the Judeans, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, Philip, his brother, being tetrarch of Iturea, and the region o f Trachonitis, and Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene, at the time of the high-priesthood of Anna and Caiaphas- it came to pass that the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan (river), preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of Isaiah, the prophet: ‘A voice, crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the Lord’s road. Make straight his paths. Every valley will be filled and every mountain and hill will be humbled. And the crooked will be (made) str aight, and the rough (ways) will be made smooth roads. And all flesh will see the salvation of God. “
Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name we shall find comfort and peace. Amen
This is the domain of Yahweh’s servants, their faithfulness from me (Yahweh’s declaration).
Hey, anyone who’s thirsty, all come for water. Whoever has no silver, come, buy and eat. Come, buy without silver, wine and milk without cost. Why weigh out silver for what isn’t bread, and your labour for what isn’t filling? Listen hard to me and eat what’s good; you can delight your appetite with rich food. Bend your ear, come to me; listen, so you may come to life. I will solemnize for you a permanent pact, the trustworthy commitments to David. Here, I made him a witness for peoples, a leader and commander for peoples.
Here, you’ll call a nation that you don’t acknowledge, and a nation that doesn’t acknowledge you will run to you, For the sake of Yahweh your God, and for Yisra’el’s sacred one, because he’s glorifying you.
Enquire of Yahweh while he is letting himself be found, call him while he’s near. The faithless person must abandon his way, the person who brings trouble [must abandon] his intentions. He must turn back to Yahweh so he may have compassion on him, to our God because he does much pardoning.
Because my intentions are not your intentions, your ways are not my ways (Yahweh’s declaration).
Because the heavens are higher than the earth; so are my ways higher than your ways, my intentions than your intentions.
Because as the rain or snow falls from the heavens, And doesn’t go back there but rather soaks the earth, And makes it bear and produce, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So will my word be that goes out from my mouth. It will not come back to me empty, but rather do that which I wanted, achieve that for which I sent it.
Because you’ll go out with joy, and be brought in with well-being. The mountains and the hills will break out before you in resounding. All the trees in the open country will clap the palms of their hands. Instead of the thorn a juniper will come up, instead of the briar a myrtle will come up. It will be a memorial for Yahweh, a permanent sign that will not be cut down.
Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
Take from us, O God, all pride and vanity, all boasting and self-assertion, and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness, the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity, and the true power that shows itself in modesty.
But with permanent commitment I’m having compassion for you (your restorer, Yahweh, has said), because this is Noah’s water to me. In that I swore that Noah’s water would not pass over the earth again, So I’m swearing not to be angry with you or to reprimand you. Because mountains may move away, hills slip, but my commitment will not move away from you. My pact of well-being will not slip, the one who has compassion for you, Yahweh, has said.
Humble, tossing, not comforted – here I am, resting your stones in antimony. I’ll found you with sapphires, make chalcedony your pinnacles, Your gateways into sparkling stones, your entire border into delightful stones. All your children will be Yahweh’s disciples; great will be your children’s well-being. In faithfulness you’ll establish yourself; you can be far from oppression, Because you will not be afraid, and from shattering, because it will not come near you. There, someone need be in dread of nothing from me. Who quarrels with you? – he’ll fall to you. There, I’m the one who created the smith who blows into the fire of coals, And who brings out a tool for his work, and I’m the one who created the destroyer to ravage. Any tool formed against you will not succeed; you will show to be in the wrong every tongue that arises with you for a judgement.
This is the domain of Yahweh’s servants, their faithfulness from me (Yahweh’s declaration).
Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee, the life of the souls that love thee, and the strength of the wills that serve thee; help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee; so to love thee that we may fully serve thee, whom to serve is perfect freedom. Amen
Resound, infertile one, you who haven’t given birth; break out into sound and bellow, you who haven’t laboured. Because the children of the desolate are many, more than the married woman’s children (Yahweh has said). Enlarge your tent space; people must stretch your dwelling curtains, don’t hold back. Lengthen your ropes, strengthen your pegs, because you’ll spread out right and left. Your offspring will dispossess the nations, they’ll inhabit the desolate towns.
Don’t be afraid, because you will not be shamed; don’t be disgraced, because you will not be confounded. Because you will put out of mind the shame of your youth, you will no more be mindful of the reviling of your widowhoo d. Because your maker will be the one who marries you; Yahweh of Armies is his name. Yisra’el’s sacred one is your restorer; he calls himself ‘God of all the earth’. Because it’s as a wife abandoned and distressed in spirit that Yahweh is calling you, The wife of his youth when she’s been spurned, your God has said. For a short moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I’ll gather you. In a burst of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, But with permanent commitment I’m having compassion for you (your restorer, Yahweh, has said),
Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
Lord God, your feed us with the living bread from heaven. You renew our faith increase our hope and strengthen our love. Teach us to hunger for Christ who is the true and living bread and live by every word that comes from your mouth, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
While Yahweh desired the crushing of the one he weakened, if with his whole person he lays down a reparation offering, He’ll see offspring, he’ll prolong his life, and Yahweh’s desire will succeed in his hand. Out of his personal trouble, when he sees he will be sated; by his acknowledgement my servant will show many that he is indeed in the right, when he bears their wayward acts. Therefore I’ll give him a share with the many; he’ll share out the numerous as spoil, In return for the fact that he exposed his person to death, when he let himself be numbered with the rebels, When he was the one who carried the wrongdoing of many people, and was appealing for the rebels.
Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next.