Lutheran Seminary – Moved by the Promise – God Pause – Tuesday, 24 December 2013 Read Isaiah 9

Lutheran Seminary – Moved by the Promise – God Pause – Tuesday, 24 December 2013 Read Isaiah 9: 2 [a] The people who walked in darkness

    have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

    on them light has shined.

3 You have multiplied the nation,

    you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

    as with joy at the harvest,

    as people exult when dividing plunder.

4 For the yoke of their burden,

    and the bar across their shoulders,

    the rod of their oppressor,

    you have broken as on the day of Midian.

5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors

    and all the garments rolled in blood

    shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

6 For a child has been born for us,

    a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders;

    and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 His authority shall grow continually,

    and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

    He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

    from this time onward and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Footnotes:

a. Isaiah 9:2 Ch 9.1 in Heb

Giving birth is an incredibly hopeful, incredibly messy and very human activity. What does it say about our God that God chose to redeem all of creation through this most fundamental of all human activities?

It has been said that the most hopeful, courageous act of the Jewish people was to have children again after the Holocaust. What incredible potential is present in every new life! This night we sing out, "A child has been born for us." How much more so that the Almighty God has also been born "for us" this day as the Son is given to us. What inexplicable hope was God bestowing upon us in the birth of God's Son! This is the pure joy of the gospel—that God in Christ is for us, and we are now Christ's forever.

Laura Thelander

Seminary Pastor, Luther Seminary

Master of Divinity , 1997

Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.

3 You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.

4 For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.

6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.(NRSV)

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