Good News: Looking Back to Look Ahead

Good News: Looking Back to Look Ahead

Christmas Letters: Part 1
November 30, 2025

Romans 1:1-7

God promised this good news about his Son ahead of time through his prophets in the holy scriptures. His Son was descended from David.  He was publicly identified as God’s Son with power through his resurrection from the dead, which was based on the Spirit of holiness. This Son is Jesus Christ our Lord.

~ Romans 1:2-4

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Advent Reflections based on The Christmas Letters, by Magrey R. DeVega.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul begins by grounding the identity of Jesus in the prophetic tradition.  He will quote or paraphrase the prophets over twenty times throughout this letter, with particular emphasis on Isaiah.  He wanted this new fledgling church in Rome to know that the coming of Christ, their Messiah, was not a spontaneous, surprising event, but one that had been anticipated for generations. 

While Isaiah and the other prophets were specifically writing about the exile of God’s people to Assyria and Babylon, Paul understands the cyclical nature of history and prophecy and identifies his present audience as those who are also longing for deliverance and liberation, just as their ancestors had.  In the same way, this prophetic tradition speaks to our own desire for deliverance from sin, injustice, and other forms of oppression in our world.

The words of the prophets call us to acknowledge the depths of our own spiritual hunger and longing.  They invite us to give ourselves to others in acts of love and peace.  As Paul did for his own time, we must also receive the words of scripture and make them our own.

Take some time to meditate on the following passages from Isaiah most often quoted during this season:

Isaiah 2:4

4 He shall judge between the nations
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 11:1

11 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

Isaiah 11:5-6

5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
    and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

6 The wolf shall live with the lamb;
    the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
    and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 35:3-4

3 Strengthen the weak hands
    and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
    “Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
    He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
    He will come and save you.”

Isaiah 7:14

14 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 Immanuel.

Isaiah 64:1-2

64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

Isaiah 40:1-5

40 Comfort, O comfort my people,
    says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that she has served her term,
    that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.

3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every 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.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Isaiah 61:1-2

61 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me
    because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
    to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and release to the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
    to comfort all who mourn,

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What impact do the prophet’s words about the Messiah have on your own life, especially as you prepare for a fresh arrival of Jesus this Advent?

A Promising Future

A Promising Future

Where Grace Meets Shiloh: Part 4
September 7, 2025

1 Samuel 3:1-21, 1 Samuel 7:3-17

So, Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not allowing any of his words to fail. All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was trustworthy as the Lord’s prophet. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh because the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh through the Lord’s own word.

~  1 Samuel 3:19-21 (CEB)

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Samuel grew up in Eli’s household as a servant of Lord’s tabernacle.  In some ways, we might say he grew up in church, literally.  He became comfortable around the holy things and learned early on to appreciate their significance.

He also had a front row seat to corruption in the house of God.  He saw Eli’s sons taking advantage of the offerings and even abusing the women who served at the tent of meeting.  Samuel knew both the best and worst of religion firsthand. 

The story in chapter 3 is familiar: God calling to a young boy in the night and giving him a vision for Israel.  Samuel did not recognize God’s voice at first, but Eli taught him how to respond and listen. 

Unfortunately for Eli, God’s word to Samuel meant bad news for his family.  The corruption of Eli’s sons and Eli’s unwillingness to confront it had reached its limit.  Their priestly service would end, and justice would be restored.

To Eli’s credit, he accepted God’s judgment, even when it came through a child.  Samuel grew to be a great prophet, trusted by the people. 

We often hear this story in individualistic terms: a young boy hearing God’s call to ministry.  This is the way we often hear it at ordinations alongside the hymn, “Here, I Am Lord.”

While there is nothing wrong with that reading, I am struck this week by what this text says to us as a community.  The tabernacle was not a church in our modern sense, yet it shared a similar role as a center of worship, and was not immune to corruption, even within its own leadership.  In every generation, God’s people have wrestled with the tension between the holiness we are called to and the reality of our brokenness.

But here is where I believe it also points to a promising future.  Despite all the faults of the tabernacle, or the church, God continues to speak.  Just as God spoke to Samuel, the Spirit still raises up leaders to call God’s people back to their holy purpose.  Chapter 3 ends with the hopeful reminder that the Lord continued to appear at Shiloh because the Lord had revealed himself there to Samuel, and Samuel remained faithful to the word he had been given.

To whatever degree we are faithful with the word entrusted to us, this church, and the church throughout the world, can still bear witness to God’s faithfulness, even when we have been unfaithful.

For Further Reflection: 

• How have you heard God’s word spoken to you through the church?

• What is yours to do in helping the church live faithfully?

God of Promise & Possibility

God of Promise & Possibility

The God of Abraham - Part 2

Sunday, September 10, 2023
Genesis 17:1-20

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai.  Walk with me and be trustworthy.  I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.”

Genesis 17:1-2

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

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God had promised to make Abram into a great nation, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, and that through him all nations of the world would be blessed.  There was only one problem… Abram and his wife were far too old to have children. 

In the ancient near eastern culture, having a male heir was crucial, so Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave her maidservant Hagar to Abram so that she could bear for them the son that she could not have.  By the time we get to chapter 17, Abram’s son Ismael is coming of age as a 13 year old young man.  We’ll come back to Ishmael & Hagar next week, but for now, it is important to remember that according to their culture, Abram did nothing wrong by having a child with Hagar to be his heir.  Though our modern sensibilities consider this immoral, even God does not condemn the morality of Abram and Sarai’s action.

The problem for God, as we see in chapter 17, is not that Abram had a child with his maidservant, but that Ishmael, despite being Abram’s firstborn, is not the child God had promised.  For the Biblical writer, it is not a question of morality or even marital faithfulness.  It is rather a question of Abram taking God’s promises into his own hands and doing things his own way.

13 years have passed.  Abram is 99 years old and preparing his son to one day take responsibility of his great inheritance.  Then God shows up and reminds Abram that the promise has not yet been fulfilled.

“What do you mean, God?  I have Ishmael.  All is well.  Why can’t he inherit your promise?” 

Next week we’ll see that God does not forsake Ishmael.  At the same time, God is working toward a new creation through the faithfulness of Abram’s lineage.  Just as God created all things from a formless void and shaped Adam out of the dust of the ground, so God wants to bring forth his people out of the barrenness of Sarai’s womb.  This is God’s promise to fulfill, not Abram’s. 

The trouble is that while Abram believes God’s promise, he feels he alone is responsible for making it happen.  He is not able to comprehend God’s power to bring new life out of barrenness.  Abram clings to the rational solutions of the flesh over the seemingly impossible work of the Spirit.  He is not trying to be disobedient.  Rather, he is trying to obey in the best way he knows how.  If God says he must have descendants, Abram made sure that would happen in the only logical way available to him.  By verse 17 we find Abram laughing at God.  In chapter 18, we’ll see Sarai do the same. 

I wonder what might be behind this laugh.  Maybe the laugh was simply at the absurdity that he and Sarai should bear children so old, especially given her inability to conceive throughout her life.  Maybe the laugh was to keep from crying over his own desperate frustration that all he invested in Ishmael seemed like it was for nothing.  Maybe it was just a laugh of “You’ve got to be kidding… Now What?!” 

More importantly, I wonder in what ways we are still laughing today as we consider the absurd and impossible promises and possibilities of God for our own life?