PRAYER
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
the Community of Love that everything rests within,
lead us not only to generously share,
but also to begin living in close proximity to and community with
those whom we may not naturally live within our stratified society.
Open the doors of our hearts and lives
to participate in your redeeming and re-humanizing work
by acknowledging that our lives are all intertwined.
Save us from the commercialism,
materialism, and selfishness of this Christmas season.
Help us to think of others more than ourselves.
May this year, through your Spirit,
ignite a hunger for justice and righteousness
among all your people.
Amen.
SERMON
Last week: Introspection (Who are you?) and Invitation (Who is He?)
There are three main sections in the Book of Isaiah:
1. A time of warning and impending judgment (chapters 1-39).
2. Encouragement for the broken and desperate (chapters 40-55).
3. A message of hope (chapters 56-66).
“We must be willing to get rid of
the life we’ve planned so as to have
the life that is waiting for us.
The old skin has to be shed
before the new one can come.” —Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion
Isaiah 61:1-3, 8-11 NRSV
[1-3] The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
[8-9] “For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness, I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the people.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”
[10-11] I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.
POINT: For Isaiah, salvation is not just another place and time, but the current reality of this world as it should be. It is a world that can and will be realized by the people.
QUESTION: What is God’s answer to the despair of today?