Book: Isaiah

The feeling of distance and separation from God – which we all feel – is perception not reality… it is the fruit of our fear and our holding-back.

Advent is preparing us for the coming of the Lord, that already and not-yet event for which people have lived and worked and prayed for millennia.

The righteousness give to us in Christ, and which we grow into in our following of him, fulfils and exceeds the trajectory set by the biblical law and prophets.

The “fishing for people” to which we are called is not about being pushy and manipulative marketers, but being open and generous in our sharing of the light that has brought us life and healing.

The unity before God which we all desire is not yet the reality, but a pledge, of which our gathering is also a sign, but its fulfilment is yet to come.

Though we get caught up in violent rivalries like Herod, God breaks through with the promise of a new kingdom where all are honoured.

God’s action in the world and in our lives is constant and faithful, but rarely flamboyant or unambiguous. Discerning God’s activity is therefore a learned skill.

When fidelity to Christ’s call is failing to bear the expected fruit, but is bearing good fruit, however humble, the call may be to persevere in hope.

The promise that God will bring new life from a dead stump challenges our haste to chop down whatever seems to be in our way.

The life Christ call us to is not found by seeking to recover the past or escape from the past, but by opening ourselves to the new things God will do.

God is with us to comfort and revive us in the face of horror, but also to challenge us to turn things around.

God’s merciful and all-inclusive love is steadfast, not arbitrary, and so fills us with hope in the coming Christ.