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?

All Things New

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All Things New
Series: Happy Holy Days - Part 6
Ephesians 4:21-32; Isaiah 43:18-19; Mark 2:21-22

Don’t remember the prior things;
don’t ponder ancient history.
Look! I’m doing a new thing;
now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it?
I’m making a way in the desert,
paths in the wilderness.

Isaiah 43:18-19 (CEB)

No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes; otherwise, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and makes a worse tear.  No one pours new wine into old leather wineskins; otherwise, the wine would burst the wineskins and the wine would be lost and the wineskins destroyed. But new wine is for new wineskins.”

 Mark 2:21-22 CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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Happy New Year!

But wait, we’re still in the middle of the 12 days of Christmas.  Epiphany / Three Kings Day is later this week.  And if we want to be really technical, the Christian new year begins the first Sunday of Advent.

In some ways, New Year’s almost seems to short-circuit our Christmas celebrations, calling everyone to take down the decorations and move on.  But what if our New Year’s Celebrations could actually move us deeper into the celebration of Christmas instead of rushing us too quickly past the season?

Like the Winter Solstice, New Year’s celebrations are ancient traditions honored in cultures all around the globe.  The earliest recorded new year’s celebration occurred roughly 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon.  For them, it occurred in mid-march when the crops were planted.  They held a 12 day religious festival known as Akitu, where they would reaffirm loyalty to their king, crown new kings, and make vows to the gods to pay back their debts and return anything they had borrowed.  If the Babylonians kept their word, they believed the gods would grant them favor in the new year.  Rome, Egypt, Persia, and China also have a rich ancient history of celebrating the New Year.

But what does any of this have to do with Christianity?  Technically, absolutely nothing.  New Year’s celebrations and even some of our traditions like new year’s resolutions date back long before Christian history.  Nevertheless, Christians have always been good at adapting cultural traditions, using them both to strengthen our own faith and to bear witness to the ways God is already showing up in the traditions of others, just as we have seen with the development of Christmas.

The idea of making rededicating our lives or renewing our covenants and promises which is part of nearly every new year’s tradition is also a central part of Christian practice.  The Christian life begins with repentance, remembering one’s past mistakes and committing or “resolving” to do better in the future.  In 1740, John Wesley developed this theme into a formal service of Covenant Renewal most commonly held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.  Another form of Christian New Year’s celebration is the watch-night service, which includes scripture readings and hymn singing, offering a spiritual alternative to “ring in the new year” with prayer instead of partying. 

Research shows that nearly 45 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8 percent are successful.  These resolutions or goals are generally more about self-improvement.  Perhaps its time to stop making empty promises to ourselves and take advantage of this day to renew our covenant with the one who can truly make our lives new.

On January 2, 2022, we used the traditional liturgy from the Wesleyan Covenant Renwal Service at Shiloh UMC in Granite Quarry. You can participate in that service online below.