Isaiah 40: 1-11 BibleGateway.com
As you drive from my parents' home in East Texas, through the tunnel of trees that is State Highway 154, you pass through a crossroads community called Little Hope, Texas, with the obilgatory Little Hope Baptist Church. I have always been amused that somebody would name a community, much less a church, Little Hope. I am sure there is a compelling story in the name.
So, what would cause you to have such little hope? Perhaps if you had to watch the center of your religious life being destroyed, and then find yourself uprooted from your home and taken into exile in a foreign land. That is the situation about which the prophet Isaiah writes with such moving poetry: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that herwarfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned" (vs. 1-2). Now there is a cause for a great hope in a time of little hope. Then Isaiah proclaims: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (v. 3). Now we know. In a land of little hope, God will pre3pare a way for God's people to go home - to their true home - kneeling at the foot of the manger, there to: "Behold your God!" There we discover"
"Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art"
(from Come, Thou Log-Expected Jesus)
Gracious God, in a world of little hope and even despair, alloow us to wait with great hope and eager anticipation in the coming of your beloved Son. Amen
As you drive from my parents' home in East Texas, through the tunnel of trees that is State Highway 154, you pass through a crossroads community called Little Hope, Texas, with the obilgatory Little Hope Baptist Church. I have always been amused that somebody would name a community, much less a church, Little Hope. I am sure there is a compelling story in the name.
So, what would cause you to have such little hope? Perhaps if you had to watch the center of your religious life being destroyed, and then find yourself uprooted from your home and taken into exile in a foreign land. That is the situation about which the prophet Isaiah writes with such moving poetry: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that herwarfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned" (vs. 1-2). Now there is a cause for a great hope in a time of little hope. Then Isaiah proclaims: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (v. 3). Now we know. In a land of little hope, God will pre3pare a way for God's people to go home - to their true home - kneeling at the foot of the manger, there to: "Behold your God!" There we discover"
"Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art"
(from Come, Thou Log-Expected Jesus)
Gracious God, in a world of little hope and even despair, alloow us to wait with great hope and eager anticipation in the coming of your beloved Son. Amen
David M. Evans, Director of Seminary Relations
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.CLICK HERE to learn how you can support the mission of Austin Seminary
No comments:
Post a Comment