The Law Once Etched, Now Breathes

Preparing for the Fourth Sunday of Advent: Three Days before Sunday (Year C)

Scripture

Psalm 80:1-7; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 10:10-18

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Prayer

God of hope, you call us home from the exile of selfish oppression to the freedom of justice, the balm of healing, and the joy of sharing. Make us strong to join you in your holy work, as friends of strangers and victims, companions of those whom others shun, and as the happiness of those whose hearts are broken. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)

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Reflection

And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

“This is the covenant that I will make with them

    after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their hearts,

    and I will write them on their minds,”

and he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin (Hebrews 10:10-18).

The law was once etched on cold stone,
letters rigid, unyielding,
carried on the shoulders of prophets,
heavy with the weight of command.