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<DIV><FONT size=4>To prepare the way of the Lord means to make choices. We
must decide what we are to focus our lives and days on. We must decide
what we will keep. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The most expensive highway project in our national history was
known as the Big Dig. It is in Boston. It involved building a buried
highway through the heart of the city. It is about 3.5 miles in length
and, by the time it was finished, cost a staggering twenty-two billion
dollars Barney Frank, a congressman from the area, said it
would have been cheaper to raise the city instead of lowering the
road. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://day1.org/1610-uncluttering"><FONT
size=4>http://day1.org/1610-uncluttering</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>B. Wiley Stephens </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Sounds like confession to me and, even better, the absolution
where we receive forgiveness. Every Sunday we come to get ourselves leveled.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=4>If we think we are the high and mighty, confession tells us we
are all the same. If our sins make us think we have no value and are the pits,
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>the absolution tells us God loves even our condition and brings
us up to God’s waiting arms of love. If we had gotten so entangled that we don’t
know how we will ever escape the tangled web of sin we have woven, Jesus cuts
through it all and tells us we’re straight with God because of the cross and
death and resurrection. </FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/archiv-9/061210-7-e.html"><FONT
size=4>http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/archiv-9/061210-7-e.html</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Walter W. Harms, <SPAN lang=en-us><FONT
lang=0>2006</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Today, the Word of the Lord is clear. The Lord says to you and
me, “Go into the wilderness and become clean. God into the wilderness and be
cleansed. Your mind, your imagination, your heart, your actions, your words,
your habits. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_a_parable_the_city_and_the_wilderness.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_a_parable_the_city_and_the_wilderness.htm</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Edward F. Markquart</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Note: the events that begin to unfold here happened in the
15th year of Tiberius, that is, about 30 AD. Jesus’ ministry may have lasted for
3 years, and so he may have died around 33 AD. </FONT>
<UL>
<LI><FONT size=4>Tiberius Caesar died a broken man on the 16 March 37 AD, just
7 years after the events that begin to unfold here. Lysanias died the same
year. </FONT>
<LI><FONT size=4>Pontius Pilate was sent back to Rome in disgrace one year
before that in 36 AD and died in disgrace. </FONT>
<LI><FONT size=4>Herod Antipas died a horrible death in 39 AD, while Philip, a
good ruler, died in dishonour the same year that Jesus is understood to have
died, 33 AD. </FONT>
<LI><FONT size=4>Annas lived to a ripe old, embittered age, “embittered”
partly because he lived to see the line of priests who descended from him
preside over the eventual destruction of the Temple and Judaism as Jesus knew
it. This included his son-in-law, Caiaphas, who was unceremoniously deposed 3
years after presiding over the trial of Jesus. Caiaphas died a short time
later. </FONT></LI></UL>
<P><FONT size=4>Talk about mountains and hills being brought low!
</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.bloomquist.ca/publications/Church%20materials/advent2%20year%20c.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.bloomquist.ca/publications/Church%20materials/advent2%20year%20c.htm</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>L. Gregory Bloomquist</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Try to imagine what it would be like: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<UL>
<LI><FONT size=4>War is just a memory </FONT>
<LI><FONT size=4>Hunger and poverty a thing of the past </FONT>
<LI><FONT size=4>Every human being experiences love and caring community
</FONT></LI></UL>
<P><FONT size=4>Sounds like heaven doesn't it?</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><B>And</B>... when you look at the state of human
affairs these days, it sounds impossible... <I>For mortals.</I></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><I><FONT size=4><></FONT></I></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Nevertheless, this is a time of year for dreaming. Many
of our children are writing lists of all the things that would fulfill their
dreams. The child within us reaches out for the wonder and mystery of this
"<I>season of good cheer."</I> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.lectionarysermons.com/decem_1000.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.lectionarysermons.com/decem_1000.htm</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>John Jewell, 2000</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>From the very beginning Jesus people understood that a
necessary consequence of their faith was service to those who suffered. This
understanding survives even today as the Pope made clear in his talks at the
United Nations several years ago and as the American Bishops have often done
when they excoriated those in our society who wish to blame the poor and the
elderly and the immigrants not only for their own problems but also for the
problems of the rest of the country. It is not our role to take positions on
specific legislation or suggested public policy. But there is a meanness and an
anger in American public life today which followers of Jesus cannot accept.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.agreeley.com/hom06/dec10.html">http://www.agreeley.com/hom06/dec10.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Andrew M. Greeley, 2006</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
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