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ECO-NOTES ON THE LECTIONARY

December 2011—Year B


2nd Sunday of Advent—Year B
4 December 2011


Isaiah 40: 1-11
Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13 (H&P 861)

II Peter 3: 8-15a
Mark 1: 1-8




Isaiah 40:1-11—For the writers of the Old Testament, hills and valleys were symbols of obstacles to God's saving power, while tender grass and flowers conveyed human frailty. For them, gentle shepherding was a sign of God's tender love.


The psalmist asserts that a fruitful, prosperous land is, along with spiritual and moral blessings, part and parcel of God’s good gift to us. Peter encourages us to observe the balance between destruction (discontinuity) and purification (continuity) in the apocalyptic prospect. Mark 1:6: The outcome of God's final purposes is renewal and righteousness. John the Baptist was a true ecologist--he left one of the smallest environmental footprints in all Scripture. His simplicity of life challenges our greedy and consumptive lifestyle...
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