From Isaiah 61:

The spirit of the Lord 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 release to the captives, and release to the prisoners;

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…

I was told a long time ago to read the Bible in terms of what happened to a particular group of people and then see what universal lessons can be drawn.

The Old Testament readings for Advent are all about comforting people in their time of distress – pointing to God’s eventual deliverance.  Now, so many years later, we are also in need of God’s saving grace.  We already have the personification of saving grace – our Savior.  We also need grace and deliverance from our current woes.  May we look to God’s actions in the past and trust that, in God’s mysterious workings, we will eventually be rescued and maybe even learn something.

Brad Norris
Minister of Music