Sermon notes Dec.17

Dec. 17 It is difficult to live with   unmet expectations. It is disappointing when you have been promised the moon and be left with a crater. In Isaiah the people were promised perfection and what they got was real life, a city city to rebuild with little money and fewer skills.I still wait for my flying car that was in the offing when I was little, just like the Jetsons.

Is. 61 solvang-The commission to "proclaim liberty" is language from the instructions for observing the Jubilee Year. The use of the Leviticus language in Isaiah 61 is a clear indication that the liberty proclaimed is intended to be made permanent in new social and economic relationships within the community.

God's anointed is also "to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance or vindication of our God." This is assurance that God has chosen to act with abundant "favor" and mercy towards Israel and to judge and defeat those who would harm her (cf. Isaiah 49:8). (Jubilee)

The mourning in Isaiah 61 rises out of frustration and humiliation over the failure to rebuild the city and the temple to match its former glory and the failure to reconcile the economic disparities and the religious and political factions. The reality of life in Jerusalem was nothing like the expectations for a restored Jerusalem .Jesus uses Is. 61 in his inaugural sermon in Luke.

The promise of newness comes to them They see no signs of a rebuilt temple. This promise of freedom, comfort, restoration, and praise likely seemed so  far off.Yet, God was at work in their midst. God was at work through them. God, the servant-prophet, and the people are wrapped together in this passage even as the work of salvation, It would be fulfilled in fits and starts as God worked through the prophet and the people.Kristin J. Wendland

500 years after Is. 61 the people of israel were still waiting. A new empire had them under their thumb.Lk. 1:46-A good way to judge the quality of a book is if it is never returned to you. So it was with a book I lent to a seminary student  about 25 years ago; the Mighty From their Thrones. Not only that quotes she wants to scatter the proud/arrogant in the imagination of their hearts/inmost thoughts. ,I think it is directed at attitudes/stereotypes.patterns of thought

magnifies the Lord due to acts of reversing injustice-Mary is clearly a social change agent and sees herself as its representative. She is a tough political operative here, more Joan of Arc, or Elizabeth I than a passive painterly conception that adorns christmas cards. . Mary, like Hannah sees herself as a representative, even embodiment of the hopes and fear of all the years.

I thes. 5:16-hogan Churches often have a pink or rose candle for the third sunday of Advent-Gaudete, “Rejoice always.” How to do this? Over what shall we rejoice?Paul speaks to  entire community. They are all to rejoice. And when? Not at a particular time, nor only in good times, but always. They are to pray always. They are to give thanks not just for the good things that happen to them, but “in all circumstances.”Paul’s call is simple and direct, rejoice, pray, give thanks always and no matter what happens. Rejoice that christmas is coming once again. Rejoice that for a bit people treat each other more kindly, the way we should be treated.

repent/turn around turn back change of heart /mind attitude turn toward God’s way in the world.In some ways our technology has gone far beyond our imaginings. Ine day, our relationships, social life will do the same.