Sermon: Third Sunday of Advent

painting: John the Baptist

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Listen to the sermon preached by the Rev. Liz Maxwell on the Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2025.

      Sermon - Advent III 2025 - The Rev. Elizabeth Maxwell

Lessons

You can read the scriptures for this service here: Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 1:46-55; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11.

The image above is a study depicting John the Baptist in preparation for a larger painting, “Christ Among the People,” by Aleksandr Andreevich Ivanov, 1806-1858, which is part of the collection of The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.


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AscensionNYC

Sermons and audio content from the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in the City of New York

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Newsletter

Parish News: May 10

In this week’s newsletter, the rector reflects on “Glorians”—a term from Terry Tempest Williams describing encounters with grace and wonder in the natural world, like an ant carrying a pink blossom across the desert or the discovery that ancient horseshoe crabs have blue blood used to test vaccine purity. These ordinary, extraordinary moments reveal our vulnerability and connection with creation, calling us to lament, praise, and care. Mother Liz links this to Sunday’s gospel promise that we dwell in Christ and Christ in us—a mysterious communion revealed to those who love, inviting us to be present to the holy in the everyday.

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