Luke 3:1-6
Lead in: In the opening line of Luke 3:1, we hear the names of no less than eight different kings and governors along with exact dates that they ruled including the regions they ruled.These seemingly random facts seem extraneous to the core message of the Gospel. But as Fr. Daniel Horan notes in a written article, the Christian faith is not a religion that believes in an abstract and distant God. On the contrary. The central element of the Christian faith is that our God is a radically personal God who has entered into relationship with us, even becoming one of us. The truth we’re invited to claim as our own is that the God of history meets us in the ordinary of our lives. Or said another way, the incarnational God who is revealed in Jesus is the same God who comes to us disguised as our lives. Think of the implications. All of life is charged with the presence of God.
Prompt: What does the following phrase mean to you? “God comes to us disguised as our life.”
Prompt: How would you answer if you were asked, “When this week did God come to you disguised as your life?”
Lead in: In Luke 3:4 we hear, “John went through the whole region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance.” To repent means to turn around from the direction you’re going and change how you’re doing things.
Prompt: Where is it in your life that you might be drifting off course and headed in the wrong direction? What might you do to get back on track?
Lead in: “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight his paths.” That was John the Baptist’s simple message. And so is the message of Jesus. “If you wish to be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me.” Hearing that, we might say the ball is in our court. What are you going to do about that?
Prompt: Where in your life is it hardest for you to take action?
Lead in: In the Book of Baruch, a captured people hear of a bright future with a return to their homeland. The image the author uses to convey the emotion of this moment is a mother on a hillside with open arms welcoming her children as they come running home.
Prompt: What is your “homeland”, the place where you feel most at home? What can you do to create your parish into the “homeland” you want to come home to?
Lead in: Paul had a special fondness for the community at Philippi. Now in prison, Paul speaks to them with the pride of a proud parent. “May the one who began the good work in you continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Prompt: What good work have your parents instilled in you?
