Sunday, December 22, 2019
SERMON: "Make the Nations Prove: Peaceful Joy"
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Broschart
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. - Isaiah 7: 10-16
Let the sea laugh, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the waters clap their hands; let the hills ring out with joy before the Beloved, who radiates Love to all the earth. For Love reigns over the world with truth and justice bringing order and balance to all of Creation. - Psalm 98 (translation, Nan C. Merrill)
"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us.” - Matthew 1: 18-25
Synopsis: The name Emmanuel means “God with us.” From both the Hebrew and Christian narratives, we hear the yearning for this “Emmanuel”–for God to become so present that God’s peace, truth, love, and justice reign among all the world and bring balance to what feels out-of-sorts. Our Psalm in this series names the joyful expression of all creation as the response to the news that the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, is coming at long last.
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