Month: December 2025

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” [Matthew 3:7b]. Not exactly the warm-up act for Christmas we were hoping for. It’s the Second Sunday of Advent, the season when we're supposed to be lighting candles and singing carols, and the lectionary (RCL, Year A) gives us John the Baptist in full prophetic fury. He’s wearing camel hair held together with a leather belt, eating locusts and wild honey, looking like Elijah come back from the grave. And he’s calling the religious leaders snakes. This is the voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. This is how we get ready…