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Isaiah 9:2-7, John 1:1-5
2 1 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon2 his shoulder,
and his name shall be called3
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
(ESV)
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,1 and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
[1] 1:4
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Well, good evening. How are you doing? You warm enough? You okay? Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:I hope that you, enjoyed your snowy weekend. It was nice to be in the Christmas season and actually feel like Christmas outside. It was quite lovely. It was strange. It was like last Christmas Eve when we had, like, the doors and the windows open, because it was 90 degrees.
Jeffrey Heine:And now now it's right. All is all is right. We're going to be in Isaiah chapter 9 tonight. Isaiah chapter 9. One of the greatest privileges that I have as a pastor is to preach at Advent.
Jeffrey Heine:And so I'm so excited to be with you, to gather around God's word tonight. And so we are going to be in Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2 through 7. We're going to be jumping around to some other beautiful spots in scripture as well, but primarily working our way through Isaiah chapter 9. And as you make your way in your Bibles and in your worship guide, let us listen carefully, for this is God's word. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Jeffrey Heine:Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, and they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
Jeffrey Heine:For every boot of the trampling warrior in battle, Tomut, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Jeffrey Heine:Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The word of the Lord.
Connor Coskery:Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's pray. Holy God, we need to hear from you tonight. You lead us to truth. You speak light in our darkness. And you alone can turn our hearts to wonder and worship.
Jeffrey Heine:Will you meet with us now as we gather around your word? Will you stir in our hearts and minds a fresh wonder that you alone are God, and that you have broken into the darkness of our world and our hearts to rescue, redeem, and restore. Christ, may you be honored in the way that we speak and listen tonight. So now we ask that you would speak, Lord, for your servants are listening. We pray these things in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen. From the moment that Thanksgiving dinner is over, Christmas music begins in our house. And, really, if I'm honest, in my office, it starts early October. And that's because I have to think about and plan for and write concerning Advent and Christmas well before Halloween. So I'm kinda have this Jekyll and Hyde going on for all of October.
Jeffrey Heine:But my favorite Christmas record of all time is Elvis Presley's 1957 Christmas album entitled Elvis' Christmas Album. It's just a brilliant title. It's, the highest selling Christmas record of all time, and my favorite song on that album is Blue Christmas. And just this past week, we were listening to it at our house, and my oldest daughter, June, came up, and she asked me to turn it off. And I thought that maybe it was because, they were sick of listening to Elvis, which happens a lot in my house.
Jeffrey Heine:But no. She said she didn't want to listen to Blue Christmas anymore because the song was so sad. And this year, and I'm not really sure the reason, I've been drawn to the sad songs of Christmas. I've compiled a playlist of sad Christmas songs. And in a season when we are bombarded with the saccharine songs of marshmallow worlds and candy canes and gumdrops, the bitter notes of sadness can seem so out of place.
Jeffrey Heine:By far, one of the saddest Christmas songs is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. The the title betrays the the actual lyrics there. But but but there are definitely more depressing songs. Nat King calls the little boy Santa Forgot. Like, don't don't listen to it.
Jeffrey Heine:It is. It's it's terrible. It's heartbreaking. There is one that is worse, but I'm not even gonna mention it because I don't want you to go out and find it. If you if you really wanna know, I'll tell you after the service.
Jeffrey Heine:But definitely the most heartbreaking of the Christmas songs is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. And surprisingly, it's one of the most popular, one of the most recorded songs ever. And Judy Garland's version for Meet Me in Saint Louis, the film, was the first recording in 1943. 12 years later, Frank Sinatra wanted to record it for his Christmas album. I think that was called Frank Sinatra's Christmas album.
Jeffrey Heine:But but he wanted to record it 12 years later, but there was a line that Frank did not like. And if Frank didn't like something, they were going to change it. And so, the original songwriter, Hugh Martin, was contacted that Frank wanted a different line. Frank didn't like the line that said, someday soon we all will be together if the fates allow. Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, in the movie, Judy Garland is comforting her little sister, who's looking out the window. They're having to move, and they're they're sad, and and and there's all this trouble in the family. And and so she's trying to comfort her sister and say, next year, all of our troubles will be miles away. But for now, until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow. And Sinatra thought that the song was just too sad with that line.
Jeffrey Heine:This isn't a season for sadness and sorrow. It's not allowed, and it definitely won't sell. And so Sinatra said, I want the line changed. And so 12 years later, they contact the original songwriter, Hugh Martin, who was a Birmingham native. And the Birmingham folklore is that, he was in town when he was asked asked by Frank Sinatra to rewrite this line.
Jeffrey Heine:And he was walking down Highlands Avenue, looking at the tall trees, when he came up with the line, Hang a shining star above the highest bough. There's something in this tension, that I think we all can experience at Advent and Christmas, the desire to rewrite the lyrics, to make it somehow happier, to take away the pain, to cover over the sorrow. See, it's that weight of darkness and that longing for light that seems to comprise this season. Every December, usually around the 2nd or 3rd week of Advent, I have my own Charlie Brown moment. You know?
Jeffrey Heine:You know, that scene when Charlie Brown is standing on the stage, and he throws his head back in that utter defeat and disenchantment. And he calls out to his friends and his dog and seemingly the universe, and he says, isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? And every year, I get this feeling. I I sink into this thinking, this this thinking that something is missing, something of essential value at Christmas has been lost, and I struggle to find it. And after experiencing this for years, I think that I can finally sum it up in one word: wonder.
Jeffrey Heine:I think we've lost the wonder of Advent and Christmas. Because wonder lets you experience sadness. It won't deny your pains. But wonder also lifts up our eyes from what is around us and reminds us that there is more. There's more, more than what is right in front of us.
Jeffrey Heine:Wonder won't let us remain in our disenchantment. You know, we sing during Christmas, that the curse that Jesus came to undo by becoming a curse himself, This curse, far as the curse is found, that that Jesus came to do something about that. And I believe that part of this curse is disenchantment. It's the failure to expect anything, a failure to behold anything, a failure to be in awe of God. In his 1963 biography, The Words, philosopher John Paul Sartre wrote this, Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment with truth.
Jeffrey Heine:What he means by this is sometimes we excuse our disenchantment because it's just part of growing up. You know, like the bell that stops ringing in the Polar Express, that we age out of these things. But disenchantment isn't simply a part of growing up. Disenchantment is the loss of awe. So how do we recover this awe?
Jeffrey Heine:Well, awe begins with beholding. Awe grows in worship, and awe yields the fruit of love. And and what has been lost, what needs recovery at this moment is not some cultural, inert Christmas. It's not simply getting a barista to say Merry Christmas. Right?
Jeffrey Heine:What we need to recover is our wonder. A great voice, a helping voice in analyzing our cultural loss of wonder is Pastor Mike Cosper. In his book, Recapturing the Wonder, Cosper defines this loss of wonder as a disenchantment. And he writes this. A disenchanted world has been drained of magic, of any supernatural presence, of spirit, of God, and transcendence.
Jeffrey Heine:A disenchanted world is a material world, where what you see is what you get, where God is superfluous, unnecessary, end quote. I believe our text tonight, Isaiah's prophecy, leads us away from this disenchantment and into deep wonder. And this wonder is critical if we're going to keep Christmas in the days ahead. Isaiah declares to us these wild promises of God, that in the midst of bleak anguish, God will show up. And Isaiah calls us to look at the promises of God being fulfilled in the person Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:And Isaiah bids us to behold the glory of God and the promise of light in our darkness. Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 9 begins with a pronouncement. Pronouncement of the promise of light. And then it moves, to the picture of fulfillment. It actually even speaks as though it's already happened, what what Isaiah is beholding and recording.
Jeffrey Heine:It's as though it's already happened, this arrival of the light. And he offers us a description of the purpose of the light. And it's my prayer tonight that that in our time together around the word of God, listening for the voice of God, that our awe would be so revived that we would enter this divine season of enchantment, Advent and Christmas, that we would arrive in a deep place of resolved wonder, a wonder that can endure the realities of life, can help us look ahead to the hope that we have in Christ and his kingdom. So, much of the first 40 chapters of Isaiah's prophecy are about an indictment against Israel. The covenant people of God have lost their way.
Jeffrey Heine:They've lost their obedience, their commitment, even their knowledge of God. In short, they have lost their fear, their awe of God, and everything else fell away from there. In chapter 1, Isaiah records these words of God. Here, oh heavens. Give ear, oh earth, for the Lord has spoken.
Jeffrey Heine:Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people do not understand. The result of this rebellion is a prophecy, a lengthy prophecy from Isaiah. He will describe to Israel their sins and God's righteous judgment, That their cities would be devastated.
Jeffrey Heine:That the people would be led off as captives. That they will live as exiles. Isaiah brings words of woe and exposes Israel's guilt to them. In chapter after chapter after chapter, Isaiah offers Israel this intensely dark prophecy. Chapter 8 ends with a painful image of what awaits the people of God.
Jeffrey Heine:Isaiah chapter 8 21 through 23. They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness. 23 times, Isaiah will reference darkness in his prophecy.
Jeffrey Heine:And in the Old Testament scriptures, darkness often served as an image of agony, or evil, ignorance. And if you think back to those first words of chapter 1, the chief indictment against Israel was that they had forgotten their God. This chief darkness was ignorance, and that ignorance became their anguish. Isaiah said that the people walk in darkness. They live in darkness.
Jeffrey Heine:They made their homes in darkness. And this is the covenant people of God. These are the descendants of the people whom God had carried out of slavery from Egypt and led them through the wilderness to the promised land. And now they don't know who God is. See, the busyness of their days, the delights of their eyes, the distractions which clutter the chaos of their life, they have become disenchanted with the stories of their ancestors.
Jeffrey Heine:It had been a 1000 years since Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt, 500 since King David sat on his throne. And the Israelites' hearts had been enticed by lesser gods, and they grew to despise the Holy One of Israel. Some of the Israelites would still go through the motions of worship, though. They'd make sacrifices. They'd go through the motions of prayer.
Jeffrey Heine:And God said through the prophet Isaiah that he's he's not going to listen to these prayers anymore. He's going to cover his ears. And the smell of the sacrifices, that smoke going up to heaven, he says it makes him sick to his stomach. These are the outward actions of the children of God, but they have forgotten who their father is. See, that's what was being referred to there in chapter 1, that an ox knows who its master is, that even the donkey knows its master's crib, where he's supposed to lay down and and have his being.
Jeffrey Heine:The animals know who is in charge of them, and yet Israel does not know their father. See, as they have been enchanted by the things of the world, they have become disenchanted to their God. Their disenchantment is manifested in their heartless, meaningless worship. They have a sense of obligation to God, sure, but they don't have any awe of him. They do not know him and wonder at his greatness and his graciousness.
Jeffrey Heine:So there they live, in their disenchanted darkness of ignorance. And on their own, this will be their existence forevermore. They will live in the disenchanted darkness of their own rebellion, forgetting God, and God ignoring their empty worship. But then, then, like a dungeon door cracking open and the captives squinting as the cell is flooded with light, like the stone rolling away from Lazarus's grave in the brilliant light of day pouring into the formerly dead man's tomb, like the sun rising after the longest, coldest night of the year, a light. A light begins to break through the darkness of sin and death.
Jeffrey Heine:Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown. This is the promise of light. In a move that should really teach all of us, instruct each one of us concerning the very character of who God is, the people who walked in darkness, the darkness of their own sin and rebellion and judgment, those who did not know the light, those who did not desire the light, those who could not make the light manifest on their own, upon those who abided in that deep darkness, upon them, Yahweh ripped the heavens and brought forth his light.
Jeffrey Heine:Returning to wonder means looking for the light of God in our darkness. Our visions are crowded by the busyness. And that's every season, right? That's not just Advent and Christmas. This Advent, some of you might have already started telling yourselves this lie, and maybe some of you are even believing it.
Jeffrey Heine:And it's this. Things are going to slow down after Christmas. Right? That's never happened to anyone ever. Things won't slow down, but you can.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, to return to wonder, we have to stop. We have to look around us for the light of God breaking into our darkness. We must look for the light, the very presence of God, turning sin into righteousness, despair into hope, death into life. That is our wonder. Most of the suffering that you have experienced this year, the pain represented in this very room, never made a headline, never got a hashtag, never got any recognition by the world whatsoever.
Jeffrey Heine:But it's your pain. It's your story of struggle, and sadness, and brokenness, and sin, and fear, and shame, and anger, and loss, and suffering, and confusion. And you cannot overcome this darkness on your own. When we look at our world this Advent season, it it can seem upside down to the exact opposite of the classic Christmas scenes of Charles Dickens and Bing Crosby. But this broken and dark world that we see today is exactly what Jesus broke into at his birth.
Jeffrey Heine:Next year, our troubles might not be miles away. In fact, they might be miles closer than ever before. And what then? What do we do when things aren't getting better? The people of Israel were living, dwelling in darkness, both their rebellion and their ignorance.
Jeffrey Heine:And and on these people who looked at a world that was not getting better, and like us, did not deserve anything but the consequences of their rebellion, on these people and on us tonight, the light began to shine. In verse 6, Isaiah gets more specific about just who this light is, saying, for to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And this is the arrival of the light. The repeated to us should kindle our wonder and our awe.
Jeffrey Heine:In awe, we should respond, to us? To us, a child is born? To us, a son is given? The light of God, this child coming to us? Who are we to receive this child?
Jeffrey Heine:Isaiah will prophesy later in this book, in in chapter 53, about this child, this son growing up. He'll write this. For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, as one from whom men hide their faces.
Jeffrey Heine:And he was despised, and we esteemed him not. In wonder, we must step back and realize that this son who was given was given to a people who will despise and reject him. Let's take that in. This child that is born, this son who is given, was given to us. And if the son is given and we are the recipients, who is the giver?
Jeffrey Heine:The father. And all this had to be done. And remarkably, this had always been the plan of God. God was not simply searching for a way to display his love, as I recently heard someone say. God wasn't simply looking for a way to show his love.
Jeffrey Heine:He could have given us all a kitten if you wanted to do that. For some of you, that would be a sign that he hated you. But nonetheless, no. He wasn't just looking for a way to display his love. He had to give the son, and it was the plan before the earth was even created.
Jeffrey Heine:Saint Gregory, one of the church fathers, wrote in a homily called, The Wonder of the Incarnation. He wrote these words, quote, the very Son of God, older than the ages, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the beginning of beginning, the light of light, the fountain of life and immortality, the image, the immovable feel, the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the father. He it is who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and unites himself to a soul for the good of our souls, to purify like by like. He takes to himself all that is human, except for sin. End quote.
Jeffrey Heine:For our flesh and our souls, the Son had to be given in the flesh to sanctify like by like. The son had to be given, and, amazingly, God has given his son to us. You are the recipient of the son. Take in the wonder that the Father has done this for us, for you. Another church father, John Chrysostom, wrote in the 5th century about this wonder, saying this, quote, What shall I say?
Jeffrey Heine:How shall I describe this birth to you? For this wonder fills me with astonishment. The ancient of days has become an infant. He who sits upon the sublime and heavenly throne now lies in a manger, And he who cannot be touched now lies subject to the hands of men. And he who has broken the bonds of sinners now is bound by an infant's blankets.
Jeffrey Heine:End quote. The father planned this. The child would be born, a son would be given, and he would be given to us. And this leads us to the purpose of the light. Look with me.
Jeffrey Heine:And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Here, Isaiah describes the purpose of the light. What the light achieves and what the light is like. His character.
Jeffrey Heine:Here, Isaiah describes this this purpose. And and earlier in verses 3 through 5, Isaiah described this victorious soldier, a commander who has grown the nation from a small remnant, and liberated her from all of her oppressors and all war. And in verse 6, Isaiah says that the government will rest upon his shoulder. He will carry this nation like a lamb on his shoulder. No longer will you suffer under the wickedness and ignorance of the pagan government, but the the new nation would be on the steady, certain shoulders of the sun.
Jeffrey Heine:And we will know this sun by his names. Isaiah lists these four names of what he will be called to show us the character of the son. The first one, wonderful counselor, the one who is infinitely wise, whose wisdom is for the blessing of the world. The second, mighty God. This is to be a startling name, because from this, we know that the Son is truly divine and one with the Father, because no human king could ever be called this divine name, mighty God.
Jeffrey Heine:It would be blasphemy. It would be idolatry. It would be putting a God beside Yahweh, clearly breaking that first commandment. But this this son who was given can be called mighty God because he is of the father, begotten, not made. All that the Father is, the sun displays for us to see.
Jeffrey Heine:3rd, everlasting Father, the kingship of the sun is affirmed that he would be an everlasting ruler, promising to forever oversee his people and never leave his throne or leave his people alone. And finally, number 4, Prince of Peace. The nation will no longer fear their oppressors. The superpowers that threatened the first hearers of Isaiah's prophecy were reasonably terrifying. The people feared that they would be utterly destroyed by an invading superpower, and the nations were constantly at war or under the threat of war.
Jeffrey Heine:But this Son who is given, the light in the darkness, the one who will have the government upon his shoulder, he will rule in perfect and everlasting peace. Isaiah tells us more about the sun in verse 7. Of the increase of his government and of the increase of his peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Jeffrey Heine:Isaiah is highlighting here that the ever expanding reign of the Son's kingdom, The eternally expanding peace of the sun has no end. This kingdom will have no end, both in its expanse and in time. No end. The reign of the son on the throne of David will be upheld in perfect righteousness, in perfect justice, forever. The kingdom, the nation, the throne, the peace, the light, they will have no end.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the promise of forever light. Our wonder and our awe can only be recovered when we return to behold the greatness of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. The chief wonder of Christmas is that this child was born to us. This son was given to us and is wrapped in swaddling clothes. The awe we find at Christmas is that it is God in the manger.
Jeffrey Heine:Advent is a time to be honest about our deepest longings and our deepest pains. Christmas is a time to be filled with the wonder and awe that the God who made you came to be with you, to rescue you, and to meet your deepest longings, and to heal your deepest pains. I don't know what kind of Advent season you are in right now, or what your Christmas will be like in the weeks ahead. I do know that for many of you, you are excited to be spending the holidays with friends and family. But I also know that for many of you, this is your first Christmas away from friends and family.
Jeffrey Heine:And for many of you, it's the first Christmas with someone new in your life, a new girlfriend or boyfriend, a new spouse or a child. And for others, this is your first Christmas without someone, due to a broken or a strained relationship or through the pain of death. I don't know what your Advent and Christmas will hold for you, but I do know this. No matter how dark the darkness gets, the light has come, and the darkness has not and will not overcome it. The light of Christ will shine this Christmas.
Jeffrey Heine:In John's gospel, we hear the words of Jesus when he says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So where is your sense of awe and wonder this Advent? Have you stopped long enough to wonder? Kids do this so much better than us adults.
Jeffrey Heine:That's for sure. I was reminded by Connor this week about the quote from GK Chesterton, who said, fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed. See, there is a wonder at Christmas far greater, far wilder than any reindeer or sleighs or any narrative our culture could tell us.
Jeffrey Heine:It is a light given to an undeserving people who lived in the darkness of their own rebellion. And the Son who made the world humbled Himself to become a helpless child, born to live, to die, to rise, and to reign forevermore. Real awe and real wonder begin with beholding. It's a beholding that traces the blessings in our lives to the giver of those blessings, that finds the thread of our blessings and traces them back to the giver. Awe begins with beholding, and it grows in worship.
Jeffrey Heine:Paul Tripp, in his book about awe, says, you will worship whatever you think has produced what you celebrate, what you consider a blessing. End quote. Awe begins with beholding. It grows in worship, and it yields the fruit of love. Hear these familiar words from John's gospel in light of Isaiah's prophecy.
Jeffrey Heine:For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to us, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Jeffrey Heine:For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Wonder begins with beholding the Son who was given to us. And that wonder grows in the worship of the God who saves us by bringing light to our darkness. And that wonder yields the fruit of love.
Jeffrey Heine:Love of brother and sister, love of neighbor and stranger, love of the light who has come to make us the children of light. And it's my prayer, as a shepherd here at Redeemer, that your wonder and that your awe would be restored and refreshed this Advent and Christmas, that you may behold the Lord, your God, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For he has delivered you from the domain of darkness and transferred you into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of your sins. Let's pray. Oh, Lord, we need you this Advent.
Jeffrey Heine:We need you to help us to behold, to look. Lord, draw us near to the manger. Take us even to Bethlehem, that we might see this thing of which we have heard. In our hearts and our souls, draw us near to the manger to behold the light of the world, the child who has been given to us. And, Lord, help us to grow in our worship of you, to worship you in spirit and in truth.
Jeffrey Heine:And, Lord, that this awe, this wonder would yield the fruit of love in our lives, even the people around us who are so hard to love. Lord, help us as we spend time with friends and family and neighbors and coworkers in in unique places where where the whole, culture around us seeks to celebrate this Christmas, help us to hold fast to the wonder of the incarnation, the Christ who has come to us to rescue us and help us to love well, And not just to dig deep and somehow display the depth of our own character in sourcing love from ourselves. No. Help us to love because you have first loved us. May that humble us and ready us to love those around us.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord, help us to respond to you, to your word, and to your spirit with all that we are tonight, to trust you, to obey you, and to love you. We pray these things in the name of Christ our King. Amen.