Advent 4A, December 19 2010

[Shea Zellweger]

Isaiah 7:10-16(17)
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 (16-18)
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

[Shea Zellweger]

48 days in advance of this particular sermon, I'm leaning heavily toward the Isaiah passage, but I really don't have much idea of what direction it would go.

[Kazimiera Fraley]

I think I have a direction. Which might mean we have some miscommunication.

I might talk about our young lady and who she may be. Thinking about the idea that there are somethings which once you learn them you can't unlearn them and the diff between amah and bethulah is one of those for me.
I want to talk about who she was for Isaiah and Ahaz and what this child meant to them - Emmanuel - "God with us" what that meant in their hopeless situation
touch on what this meant to Matthew when he used it
then talk about what Emmanuel means for us - That our God is not "up there" or "out there" in "Heaven" or in "the heavens" but we believe in a God who is with us, a God who promises to be with us.

[Ryan Scott]

Kaza, you hit right on where I'm heading this week. I'm focusing on the idea of faith and that God is in the business of providing impossible signs - a reassurance that God's people are not forgotten.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

No one's picking up the Gospel lesson and doing Christmas early, eh? :-)

[Ryan Scott]

No one's picking up the Gospel lesson and doing Christmas early, eh? :-)

I'm using it to illustrate the way God gives us signs time and again to remind us of God's presence.

[Mike Schutz]

I am preaching the Matthew 1 passage - in this story we see Joseph, through the leading of the Spirit of God, following a "counterscript" (if that word sounds familiar to you, you have probably also read Brueggemann) to the script of the world - and the introduction of the difference the incarnation makes to those who choose to follow the kingdom script.
Following the message, we will be having two child baptisms - clear statements of the difference the kingdom makes.