Week One: Hope. Christ is coming

Read: Isaiah 40:1-9

Psalm 122

“When you open the Bible, do you know what you find?  You find the stories that trace the branches of Jesus’ family. You find people who were big cheaters, bad liars, weaseling sneakers, battling brothers, fighting families, and all the beaten up and brokenhearted.

...And things got so rotten that his [Jesus’] family tree looked more like the stump of a tree cut right off.  But right out of this stump. This budding branch – this green shoot of new hope, new starts, new freedom for the whole family – was Jesus!”

~Ann Voskamp, from Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

 

This morning's Isaiah text (yearning for all rough places to be made plain) is part of Handel's Messiah --found here in traditional version and soul. Take your pick:

Advent Week One: Hope

Read: Malachi 3:1-6
Merciful God, you sent your messengers
the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may celebrate the nativity, and may await with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.  

First Day of Advent: Hope

Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 8:18-25

On that first Christmas, Jesus didn't appear in the world out of nowhere.
             He was born.

That means he had family and a family history.

More incredible is that Jesus' birth continues and fulfills the story of God's promise to the world—God’s promise of life and salvation: Hope. Peace. Joy. and Love.

This is what we find in Christ—in the Christmas story—and throughout the Old Testament that leads to the New:
God chooses to be in relationship with the world.

From the very beginning, God refuses to abandon the world, no matter how much we mess it up.
Somehow, for some reason, God chooses to be with us.

So come prepare for Christ's coming anew
into our lives and our homes.
Come open the Scriptures
and trace the family tree of Jesus
Come follow the long tradition of divine grace
that brings us from Creation to Christ. 

Come celebrate Advent!