(Sundaycast) Amend Amend Amend (Jeremiah 7:4 5; Luke 1:68,74 75)

The 3rd Sunday in Advent affirms the three things that we think about with Advent. These three things all involve the word “come.” The first is that Jesus “has come to his people.” That’s clearly stated in the New Testament text for today. And the reason he came is that we needed to be redeemed. We cannot redeem ourselves. Our condition is so desperate, bad and difficult that only the intervention of God can save us. But the second reason for Advent is that Jesus comes to us. This is the theme of today’s hymn. We see this personal coming to us in both the Jeremiah and the Luke texts. When Jesus comes to us, we realize we are the “temple” of the Lord. And Jesus gives us the power to “amend” our ways as we “serve him without fear”. The third meaning of Advent is that Jesus is coming again to bring us home to be with him forever. Just as certainly as Jesus fulfilled the promise to come the first time and that he comes into our lives personally through faith we know that Jesus will come again to bring us to that communion of saints in the new heavens and the new earth, where righteousness will dwell “all our days.” So you have the third Sunday with the three candles and the three meanings of Christ’s coming.