SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, December 10, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –

Advent is a time of waiting, active waiting, anticipating, perhaps even yearning for what only a miracle can provide.

Can’t be jolly when the wild fire’s bearing down on your friend’s home or there’s another provocation from the east or the west to deprive displaced people dignity, or another charge of sexual misconduct appropriately redrawing the lines of what is cute, funny or demeaning, another storm lurking post season in the Caribbean, another genocide, another record set for mass shootings as the United States, as the most advanced (?) country in the world leads not in diplomacy, nor humanitarian efforts, but in hubris and partisan stalemate as people are evicted from their homes, hungry, frightened and forgotten. So we need a miracle.

Last week we experienced hope as we were reminded that Jesus loves us as we are. This week we look to the prophet Isaiah through whom God promises peace and restoration to an exiled and chastened people.

We too know what it’s like to be living in a ton of hurt. So we will gather and we will pray and we will repent and we will look to Jesus.

Miracles occur when we gather as God’s people.

See you in worship –