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How to Be Still
Following the death of Tyre Nichols and so many other recent acts of violence and destruction Read More
Heather Murray Elkins | Read Isaiah 9:2-7
It’s almost impossible to read these words in the King James translation and not hear Handel. His oratorio turns this text back to its original form, a song. Isaiah reassures those who are brokenhearted that God has not abandoned them. The Holy One’s silence seems deafening as the nation is...
Holy Jesus, be my comfort by day and my song in the night. Amen.
Joy over the Christmas miracle is the theme that binds this week’s passages together—unrestrained joy over what God has done and over who God is. These texts celebrate a God who reigns in strength and brings peace and light—the beginning of a new reality. As worshipers, we join in rejoicing over the coming of the messenger “who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Isa. 52:7) and the angel who brings “good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). We celebrate with all the earth by singing a new song (Ps. 96:1). The One who was present at creation, the eternal Word, “became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14).
Read Isaiah 9:2-7. What or who in your life helps you to continue to walk in the world’s darkness?
Read Psalm 96. How do you join the earth in joy and worship? How does this allow you to shout for joy and sing to the Lord a new song?
Read Luke 2:1-20. Advent reminds us of Jesus’ bridging the gap between God and humanity. How does this reality change the way you experience the world?
Read John 1:1-14. Reflect on the incarnation of God in the form of a baby. In what ways does this influence the way you see and understand God’s nature?
Respond by posting a prayer.
