"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance"

Monday musical meditations on God's good news

An opening prayer:

On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry

announces that the Lord is nigh;

Come, then and listen, for he brings

good news about the King of kings.

Then cleansed be every life from sin;

and furnished for a guest within,

And let us all our hearts prepare

for Christ to come and enter there.

We hail you as our Savior, Lord,

our Refuge and our great Reward;

Without your grace we waste away

like flowers that wither and decay.

Stretch forth your hand, our health restore,

and lift us up to fall no more.

Oh, make your face on us to shine

and fill the world with love divine.

All praise to you, eternal Son,

whose advent has our freedom won,

whom with the Father we adore

and Holy Spirit evermore.

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”