Second Sunday in Advent, December 7, 2025

‘Will to Dream:  Prophetic Peace’ Second Sunday of Advent Holy Communion, Setting One (ELW) December 7, 2025 Readings: Malachi 3:1-6 Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 Romans 15:4-13 Matthew 3:1-12 On the second Sunday of Advent, the call to peace takes us beyond sentimentality and into the wilderness with John the Baptist. His voice, echoing through the desert, is not calm—it is disruptive. His call to repentance doesn’t seek personal guilt but communal transformation. He confronts systems and identities that have grown comfortable with power. And in doing so, he exposes the thin peace of empire—a peace dependent on domination, silence, and stability for the few. The Gospel of Matthew, shaped in the wake of the Roman destruction of the temple, understands this all too well. Empire offers peace that pacifies, not peace that liberates. In contrast, John proclaims that real peace demands preparation: a reorientation of hearts, systems, and society. His imagery is fiery and raw—a winnowing fork, an axe at the root—because the kind of change he calls for is costly. It disturbs complacency, reveals complicity, and refuses performative religion. Learn more: https://www.stjameslutheran.org/ Facebook:   / sjlclf   Instagram:   / st.jameslutheranlakeforest   YouTube:    / @st.jameslutheranlakeforest