Isa 40:1-11
The Exile is over
- Ruins back to life
- people return
- peace joy and salvation to God’s people
- "Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God."
- That was 2,500 years ago
- Who cares?
- Nativity Scene - another story of old.
- Who cares?
Some of us long for a such Message of Hope. What a joy if there were real good news out there. Maybe one like this: Your life is gonna be fixed up. All the debris, mistakes, errant ways you were on, in the end it’s gonna be alright. Do not worry about your life and where it’s gonna end. God’s Glory is waiting for you, an eternal world without pain, sin, death and tears. All the wounds you’ve suffered and those you caused others are healed. Your guilt is forgiven. You go unpunished and can hold your head up high. There is no dark remainder of sin and trespass. God loves you as you are.
Or maybe one like this: That life-long medical condition is finally taken away from you. The inadequacy you feel in certain situations, is going away. The sorrow that has been a burden on your soul for years, it’s gonna be alright, it’s gonna be over. Your questions are being answered, your lamentations answered and things get better for you. Your life’s burden gets easy to carry. You’ll be able to laugh and rejoice.
You’re needed
It’s a message like this we long for: Your daily routine is broken open. There is a new task ahead that only you can perform. You may once again feel the joy of being needed by someone. You’ll find people that need specifically you! You are about to hear it: "If it weren’t for you."
Burdens still there
- Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
- O yes, we need to be comforted.
- O yes, we need that Message of Hope
- 9Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him;
Messengers of Hope
- Isaiah managed to get through with his Message of Hope
- And so did the Messengers of Hope at the barn: the Angels, the Shepherds and the Wise Men
Message of Hope
- Today we receive the Message of Hope
- the Message of future Hope: 3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
It’s gonna be alright
- You can hold your head high
- Sin is no more
- Sickness is no more
- you’re needed
- receive the Message of Hope and let be valid for you
Become a Messenger of Hope yourself
- God rescued his people from the Exile
- God sends his Son to be one of us
- Maybe you have experienced a sign of hope in your life that you are able to share
Share Hope
- be it through Christmas Cards really referring to the Message of Hope not just "Happy Holidays"
(Christmas is not about presents but His presence)
- be it through symbols like candles and nativity scenes you explain to your coworkers, friends and family
- be it through you own stories of hope that you share
- "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
