November 27, 2016

INTRODUCTIONThings were going fine. They weren’t great by any stretch of the imagination, but they were fine. Predictable. Familiar. Then God shows up. Technically speaking it was angels first, Gabriel solo and then a whole host of them. Then God decided to intrude into the ordinary. God chose to become one of us. We didn’t ask for this. We didn’t know we needed it, until he came and now we join with God’s people of every time and place and pray that God would intrude again. Come Lord Jesus!

OPENING PRAYERCome Lord Jesus, come this day and every day with good news for all who need it most. Intrude in the brokenness of the oppressed, the prisoner, the mournful and the terrorized with hope and healing. Establish in our lives the justice and righteousness you love and call us to live. Bring salvation to all. In your name we pray. Amen.

SERMON CONNECTIONThe transcript and a recording of the past week’s sermon are available at bethlehem-church.org.

� What in the sermon piqued your interest or attention?

� What questions did it raise for you? What insights did it bring?

“[God] has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted…”

Isaiah 61:1

REFLECTION CONVERSATION

CLOSING PRAYER MAKE IT REALProvide opportunity during discussion for the group to “make it real”:

� When/How has God intruded into your life in a similar or different way as God did in the lives of Isaiah and Israel here?

� When you read/hear of God’s garden in Isaiah 61:11 what other gardens come to mind?

� How will this Word intrude and impact the way you live? The way you face adversity? The way you “see” life?

� Look up the words to “Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers” (ELW #244) and sing or read together.

Watch for God’s intrusion into your life with an opportunity to proclaim good news and help bind up a person or family in a brokenhearted situation. Afterward, before next Sunday, share your experience with someone of letting this Word and the Spirit of the Lord intrude in your life and inspire you to contribute to a reversal of misfortune.

Champion of the lowly. Helper of the mournful. Healer of the brokenhearted, come and pour out your spirit of hope and healing, fortune and freedom, comfort and joy. Grant your saving help wherever the afflicted cry out. Inspire and use us to usher in and implement your kingdom of justice and joy for all. In your name we pray. Amen.

Adventweek 1

Isaiah 61:1-11The Good News of DeliveranceThe 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;3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes,the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.4 They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations;they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines;6 but you shall be called priests of the Lord, you shall be named ministers of our God;you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory.7 Because their shame was double, and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot,therefore they shall possess a double portion; everlasting joy shall be theirs.8 For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing;I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples;all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.

BIBLE CONVERSATION� What does this text reveal to you about God? What do you think it means for God to “intrude” here?

� What do you envision is the condition of Jerusalem when you read verse 4?

� What do you make of the change of covering/wardrobe described in verses 3 and 10? What does that look like?

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God;for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

By: Pastor Bob Rusert

The historical events identifiable in the book of Isaiah cover more than a couple centuries making it clear that more than one author has penned and compiled this book. Yet Isaiah is eloquent and profound throughout its 66 chapters with words of judgement and doom followed by words of promise and hope. Isaiah is “more quoted in the New Testament than all the other prophets combined”* and filled with cherished “song lyrics” like those from Handel’s Messiah: “Arise, shine; for your light has come” (60:1) and “Comfort, O comfort (ye) my people” (40:1) and “For unto us a child is born… Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God” (9:6). And then there is Jesus’ quote and claim of identity and mission from Luke 4:18-19 taken directly from Isaiah 61:1-2. Just like God intruded by the Spirit blowing into Isaiah’s and Israel’s life with good news in the midst of Israel’s post-exilic struggle, the Spirit of God intrudes again with finality in Jesus as the Good News of God for all creation. In 587 BCE the Babylonians had smashed Zion/Jerusalem (as prophesied in judgment) like a bully on the beach stomps through your lovingly, painstakingly, and proudly constructed sandcastle… including the treasured pearl of your glorious Temple of the LORD. After years of suffering exile in Babylon with only post-traumatic stress memories, the Persians defeat the beastly Babylonians and King Cyrus liberates God’s people (539 BCE) to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and Temple. The problem is after being back in Zion for some time, as verse 4 suggests the children of God are still standing in rubble, with only sorry ruins and devastations as all they can see. How depressing! How despairing? How God-forsaken? This is the bleak situation into which God intrudes with Isaiah’s proclaiming the hope-filled message of our text. What is the desperate need of an overwhelmingly enslaving, mournful, and hopeless situation? Such a plight requires a seemingly ridiculous word assuming and claiming liberty and hope. Israel is invited by God to look into the face of disaster, despair, and darkness and see God’s light and HOPE! In Isaiah 61, God’s limitless reaching arms gather every broken and weary victim one can imagine and embraces them with life-giving comfort and joyful hope. The oppressed, brokenhearted, captive, prisoner, mournful, and faint… all these are gathered into hope. A vivid picture of a complete reversal of (mis)fortune takes place. Double shame reaps double joy everlasting! The weak will become strong as oaks, the ruined will be rebuilt, the poor and shamed and all will be filled with everlasting joy. WOW! After God in verses 8-9 takes up the good news megaphone proclaiming God’s determination that the cursed people will be acknowledged as “blessed” Isaiah crescendos into a glorious “song” of praise and thanksgiving in verses 10-11. In the end… God’s intrusion will mean “all the nations” will reside in God’s blessed garden. Can you see it?

REFLECTION