The following are the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent, December 8, according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Canadian BAS, and the Church of England (Common Worship) lectionaries. Unless noted otherwise, the lectionaries of ECUSA, Canada and the C of E are identical to the RCL this Sunday. The NRSV translation is used.

OLD TESTAMENT   Baruch 5: 1 - 9   (all)

5:1 (NRSV) Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,
and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.
2 Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;
put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting;
3 for God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven.
4 For God will give you evermore the name,
"Righteous Peace, Godly Glory." 

5 Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height;
look toward the east,
and see your children gathered from west and east
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that God has remembered them.
6 For they went out from you on foot,
led away by their enemies;
but God will bring them back to you,
carried in glory, as on a royal throne.
7 For God has ordered that every high mountain 
   and the everlasting hills be made low
and the valleys filled up, to make level ground,
so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.
8 The woods and every fragrant tree
have shaded Israel at God's command.
9 For God will lead Israel with joy,
in the light of his glory,
with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

Malachi 3 1 - 4   (alt. for RCL)

Mala 3:1 (NRSV) See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight--indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? 
For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. 

PSALM   Luke 1: 68 - 79   (RCL)

Luke 1:68 (NRSV) "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, 
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. 
69 He has raised up a mighty savior for us 
in the house of his servant David, 
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 
71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. 
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, 
and has remembered his holy covenant, 
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, 
to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, 
might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness 
before him all our days. 
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; 
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people 
by the forgiveness of their sins. 
78 By the tender mercy of our God, 
the dawn from on high will break upon us, 
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 
to guide our feet into the way of peace." 

Note: The C of E would use the version in Common Worship; the ACC would use this or the one of the versions in the Canadian BAS and ECUSA would use one of the canticles in the BCP (Benedictus, or the Song of Zechariah - see Canticle 16 below)

Psalm 126   (Roman Catholic)

Psal 126:1 (NRSV) When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion
we were like those who dream. 
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, 
and our tongue with shouts of joy; 
then it was said among the nations, 
"The LORD has done great things for them." 
3 The LORD has done great things for us, 
and we rejoiced. 
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, 
like the watercourses in the Neg'eb. 
5 May those who sow in tears 
reap with shouts of joy. 
6 Those who go out weeping, 
bearing the seed for sowing, 
shall come home with shouts of joy, 
carrying their sheaves. 

16   The Song of Zechariah     Benedictus Dominus Deus   (ECUSA RCL)
 
	  Luke 1: 68-79

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
   he has come to his people and set them free. 
He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
   born of the house of his servant David. 
Through his holy prophets he promised of old,
that he would save us from our enemies, *
   from the hands of all who hate us. 
He promised to show mercy to our fathers *
   and to remember his holy covenant. 
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, *
   to set us free from the hands of our enemies, 
Free to worship him without fear, *
   holy and righteous in his sight
   all the days of our life. 

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *
   for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation *
   by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God *
   the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness 
                           and the shadow of death, *
   and to guide our feet into the way of peace. 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
 as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.  Amen. 

Note: Canticle 4 may be used instead.

NEW TESTAMENT  Philippians 1: 3 - 11  (RCL)
                                    Philippians 1: 4 - 6, 8 - 11   (Roman Catholic)

Phil 1:3 (NRSV) I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. 

GOSPEL   Luke 3: 1 - 6   (all)

Luke 3:1 (NRSV) In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tibe'rius, when Pon'tius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Her'od was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Iturae'a and Trachoni'tis, and Lysa'nias ruler of Abile'ne, 2 during the high priesthood of An'nas and Ca'iaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechari'ah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isai'ah, 
"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness 
"Prepare the way of the Lord, 
make his paths straight. 
5 Every valley shall be filled, 
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, 
and the crooked shall be made straight, 
and the rough ways made smooth; 
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"