NARRATOR: In the 15th year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea; Herod, the ruler of Galilee; his brother Philip, ruler of the region around Ituraea and Trachonitis; Lysanias, the ruler of Abilene; when Annas and Caiaphas were high priests — the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. John went about the whole area around the Jordan River preaching.
JOHN: Turn away from your sins and be baptized. If you repent, God will forgive you.
NARRATOR: When people heard John, they remembered what was written in the book of the prophet Isaiah.
ISAIAH: A herald’s voice in the desert cries out: “Make ready a road for God. Clear a straight path for God. Every valley shall be filled; every mountain and hill shall be leveled.
“The windings shall be made straight and rough ways smooth, and all humankind shall see the salvation of God.”
Luke 3.1-6
Sunday Readings: Baruch 5.1-9, Philippians 1.4-6, 8-11, Luke 3.1-6