Is. 12 Notes for Dec. 16

1) See Patricia Tull’s wonderful commentary in the Smyth and Helwys series on Isaiah. The open format suits her, plus she writes exceedingly well. She is alert to intertextual features as an additional factor.Here, (246) she notes a linkage to the Song of the Sea. and Ps. 118:14,21.
2) From early days, the church heard a distinct sound of baptism in v. 3-Baptism as a link to Advent strikes me as an opportunity we rarely use.when I wa son CPM, I was always amazed at how poor the excellent candidates would do on the sacramental portion of their statements of faith, so I would suppose that afflicts congregations as well. In addition, one could work with the image of water in a variety of ways as well, including that water is turning to ice at this time of the year in many places.
3)not be afraid-this uses a fairly rare word for being afraid (pahadu, Ps. 78:53.has become my salvation     Ps. this pslamic allusion provides an opportunity to preach on songs of Advent or songs of Christmas for that matter, and draw some points form the hymns of the season.Again (268) Tull notices that  the voices in this song extend the voice of the seraphs in ch. 6
4) Zion theology is always problematic with its linkage of church and state and such a specific emphasis on the location of divine presence. Where does it continue to show up in our time?
5) Holy One growing in popularity as a name for God-along with the gender neutral pt-why is that do you think?
6) Sukhot has a water ceremony. We call this Tabernacles in English.Recall Peter wanted to build a booth/tabernacle at Transifguration. Is not baby jesus a tabernacle fo rth epresenc eof the divine?
7) this is a song of praise and thanksgiving. I have read pieces on the loss of lament and praise over the years. What of thanksgiving? Is it often perfunctory? Thanksgiving does not come easily to me, and I learned it by reading and rewriting thanksgiving psalms to a small extent.One could also come at it from the opposite angle of complaint by talking about the struggle of drawing up water form a well or preparing people to say thank you when they are not happy with a Christmas present. i saw a commercial where a gentleman goes into blissful reverie just thinking that his teenaged daughter is just a wee bit grateful for her haul of presents.Why are hte new songs of praise so unfailingly dull? Do they not fall into the artistic trap of demanding a certain feeling instead of eliciting it?