faith

Reflection: The Days are Surely Coming (18th Dec, 2025, Year A)

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Readings

Jeremiah 23.5–8 – The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt’, but ‘As the Lord lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they shall live in their own land.

Matthew 1.18–24 – Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.

Reflection

The prophet Jeremiah speaks to a people who are weary and disillusioned. They have known poor leadership, broken promises, and the painful consequences of exile. Into this uncertainty, God makes a quiet but astonishing promise: “The days are surely coming.” Not tomorrow, not on our timetable, but on God’s. A new king will arise from David’s line — a righteous Branch — one who will reign with wisdom, justice, and integrity. His very name will declare what the people long to hear: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

This promise is not merely about political stability or national pride. It is about restoration — about God setting all things right again. The Lord who once delivered Israel from Egypt will act anew, bringing people home, healing what has been fractured, and renewing hope where it has been worn thin.

When we turn to Matthew’s Gospel, we see how this promise begins to take flesh in an unexpected way. There is no throne room, no royal procession. Instead, we meet Joseph — a quiet, faithful man faced with confusion and heartbreak. Mary is pregnant, and Joseph knows the child is not his. In a culture where shame and punishment were real and dangerous, Joseph chooses mercy. He resolves to dismiss Mary quietly, protecting her as best he can.

But God is already at work beyond Joseph’s understanding. In a dream, the angel speaks: “Do not be afraid.” Words that echo throughout scripture whenever God’s purposes unfold. Joseph is told that this child is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and that his name will be Jesus — “for he will save his people from their sins.” Here, the promise of Jeremiah comes into focus. This king will not rule by force or domination. He will rule by saving, by restoring, by drawing people back into right relationship with God.

Matthew reminds us that this child will also be called Emmanuel — “God with us.” The righteousness promised by Jeremiah is not something we achieve or earn; it is something God brings to us, choosing to dwell among us in vulnerability and love.

Joseph’s response is as important as the prophecy itself. He wakes, and he obeys. He takes Mary as his wife. He names the child. In doing so, Joseph gives Jesus a place within the line of David, allowing God’s ancient promise to continue through ordinary human faithfulness. God’s great purposes move forward through quiet acts of trust.

These readings invite us to reflect on the kind of king we are waiting for — and the kind of people we are called to be. In a world still marked by injustice, fear, and uncertainty, God’s promise remains: “The days are surely coming.” Christ reigns not from a distant throne, but from within our human story, present with us, calling us to trust, to mercy, and to obedience.

As we gather in worship, we are reminded that the Lord is our righteousness. Our hope does not rest in our strength or wisdom, but in the God who comes to be with us — and who is even now bringing his promises to fulfilment.

Reflection: A Family Line (17th Dec, 2025, Year A)

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Readings

Genesis 49.2, 8–10 – Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father. ‘Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lioness—who dares rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.

Matthew 1.1–17 – An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Reflection

In our first reading from Genesis, we hear the voice of the aged Jacob, gathering his sons around him. These are words spoken at the threshold between past and future: a father blessing his children, but also a people being shaped by promise. Jacob speaks particularly of Judah, praising him and declaring that the sceptre shall not depart from him, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until the one comes “to whom it belongs”.

At first glance, this feels like a text about power, authority, and kingship. Judah will be strong; his brothers will praise him; rulers will come from his line. Yet this is not simply a story of human ambition or political success. Jacob’s blessing is rooted in God’s purposes unfolding slowly through history — often in ways that are surprising, fragile, and deeply human.

When we turn to Matthew’s Gospel, we are given what may seem an unlikely companion reading: a long genealogy, a list of names that we are tempted to skim over. Yet Matthew places this genealogy right at the beginning of his Gospel, as if to say: if you want to understand Jesus, you must first understand the story he steps into.

Matthew traces Jesus’ family line back through King David, through Judah, and all the way to Abraham. This is the fulfilment of the promise hinted at in Genesis: the line of Judah does indeed continue, and it leads us not to a palace, but to a child born to Mary.

What is striking about Matthew’s genealogy is not only who is included, but how they are included. This is not a polished list of heroes. It is a family tree marked by failure, scandal, displacement, and suffering. We hear of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah” — women whose stories involve vulnerability, courage, and, at times, great pain. We hear of kings who ruled well and kings who failed badly. We hear of exile, loss, and waiting.

In other words, this is not a triumphant march of uninterrupted success. It is the story of God working faithfully through imperfect people and broken situations. The sceptre promised to Judah does not appear as an obvious symbol of worldly power. Instead, it is carried through generations of ordinary, flawed lives.

This matters deeply for us. The promise of God is not dependent on human perfection. God does not wait until history is tidy or people are blameless. God enters the story as it is — with all its complexity — and redeems it from within.

When Matthew tells us that Jesus is “the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham”, he is not simply making a theological claim. He is saying that in Jesus, all these promises, all these stories, all these lives find their meaning. The ruler spoken of in Genesis comes not as a lion devouring prey, but as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. The sceptre is real, but it is a sceptre shaped like a cross.

For us, this invites a quiet but profound reflection. We are part of this same story. Our lives, too, are a mixture of faithfulness and failure, hope and uncertainty. We may feel ordinary, or even unworthy, but God’s purposes are not thwarted by our weakness. Just as God worked through Judah’s line, God continues to work through the Church — through us — to bring Christ into the world again and again.

As we listen to these readings, we are reminded that God keeps his promises, often in ways we do not expect. The genealogy that begins Matthew’s Gospel is not dead history; it is a living testimony that God is faithful across generations. And the Christ who comes from this long line of waiting is the same Christ who meets us here today: not distant or idealised, but Emmanuel — God with us.

May we trust that the God who fulfilled his promise through Judah and through Mary is still at work in our own lives, drawing hope from our brokenness and bringing light into the ordinary paths we walk each day.

Sermon: Are you the One who is to come? (14th Dec, 2025, Year A)

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Readings

Isaiah 35:1-10 – The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Matthew 11:2-11 – When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’ As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.” Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.’

Sermon

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In my sermon last week as we considered the beginning of John the Baptist’s public ministry, I commented that Advent is a season that invites us to sit in the tension of two things that are seemingly opposed to one another. Because Advent is a season of waiting, but not the passive waiting of killing time that the word might suggest. Rather it is an active waiting of hope — waiting with eyes open, with hearts alert, with lives turned towards God’s future. And today’s readings place us right in the middle of that tension: between promise and fulfilment, between longing and uncertainty, between faith and doubt.

Our Gospel reading opens in a place we might not expect during Advent. Not in Bethlehem, not with angels or shepherds, but in a prison. John the Baptist — the fiery prophet, the desert preacher, the one who proclaimed with such certainty that the Messiah was at hand — now sits behind bars. And from that place, John sends a question to Jesus that is as simple as it is unsettling:

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

This is not the voice of a casual enquirer. This is the voice of someone who has staked his whole life on the answer. John had proclaimed judgement and fire, the axe laid to the root of the trees, the coming wrath of God. And now he hears reports of Jesus — healing the sick, eating with sinners, showing mercy — and it does not quite match what he expected.

Advent allows space for this question. It gives us permission to ask it ourselves. Are you really the one, Lord? Are you really at work in this world? Are you really coming to set things right?

Jesus does not answer John with a simple yes or no. Instead, he points to what is happening:

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

In other words, look — look at the signs of God’s kingdom breaking in.

And as we hear those words, we are taken straight back to our reading from Isaiah. The prophet speaks to a people who are weary, displaced, uncertain of their future. And into that situation comes a vision of astonishing hope:

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.”

This is not just about individual healing, but about the renewal of all creation. The landscape itself is transformed. Water breaks forth in the wilderness. Streams flow in the desert. What was lifeless becomes abundant with life.

Isaiah’s vision is not sentimental optimism. It is hope spoken into devastation. It is God saying that barrenness is not the final word, that exile will not last forever, that joy will come where sorrow has settled in.

And crucially, Isaiah speaks of a highway — “the Holy Way” — a path on which the redeemed will walk. A way home. A way forward. A way that leads to singing, to joy, to the end of sighing and sorrow.

When Jesus points to the signs of healing and restoration, he is saying: this vision is beginning to be fulfilled. Not in the way people expected. Not all at once. But truly, deeply, and unmistakably.

And yet, even as the signs are present, John remains in prison. The kingdom comes, but the chains are not immediately broken. The desert blooms, but there are still dry places. The blind see, but the world is not yet whole.

This is an Advent truth.

We live between promise and fulfilment. We know the Messiah has come, and yet we still pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We glimpse God’s kingdom, and yet we feel its absence keenly. We hear good news, and yet we also know grief, injustice, and fear.

Jesus ends his message to John with a gentle but searching line: “Blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.”

Blessed is the one who does not stumble when God’s ways do not match their expectations. Blessed is the one who trusts even when the story unfolds differently than hoped.

Then Jesus turns to the crowd and speaks about John himself. He honours him, not despite his question, but alongside it. John is not diminished by his doubt. He is praised as a prophet — more than a prophet — the one who prepared the way.

This is important. Doubt does not disqualify faith. Questioning does not cancel calling. John’s question is not a failure; it is a sign of faith seeking understanding.

Advent faith is not about having everything neatly resolved. It is about holding on to hope even when the answer is not yet clear.

For us, in this season, these readings ask us where we are looking for God’s coming. Are we expecting spectacle, or are we paying attention to signs of quiet transformation? Are we looking only for dramatic rescue, or can we see God at work in small acts of healing, mercy, and justice? Is a big London rally claiming to put Christ back into Christmas necessary? Or has Christ been faithfully, quietly at work in our communities all this time?

Isaiah speaks of strengthening weak hands and firming feeble knees. Of saying to those who are fearful, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.” That is a word not only for ancient Israel, but for us. For a world anxious about the future. For communities feeling stretched and weary. For individuals carrying silent burdens into church this morning.

Advent does not deny the reality of fear, but it insists that fear does not have the final word.

The good news brought to the poor — which Jesus highlights — is not just material, but spiritual. It is the announcement that God sees, God knows, and God has come near. That the kingdom is not reserved for the powerful or the confident, but given to those who are open enough to receive it.

And that brings us back to the image of the highway in Isaiah. The Holy Way is not a path for the perfect, but for the redeemed. It is a way marked not by our strength, but by God’s faithfulness.

As we continue our Advent journey, we walk that road together. We carry questions, like John. We carry hopes, like Isaiah’s people. We carry longing — for peace, for healing, for justice, for joy.

And we do so trusting that the one who has come, and who will come again, is already at work among us. In small signs and great ones. In deserts beginning to bloom. In lives quietly being restored. In a Saviour who meets doubt not with condemnation, but with invitation.

So may this Advent be a season in which our eyes are opened to what God is doing. May our hands be strengthened to serve. May our hearts be steady in hope. And may we be among those who are blessed — not because we have no questions, but because we trust the one who comes to meet us on the way.

Amen.

Reflection: Rest for Your Souls (10th Dec, 2025, Year A)

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Readings

Isaiah 40.25–end – To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Matthew 11.28–end – ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Reflection

As we have been for much of the season of Advent, in our readings today we hear two voices—Isaiah and Jesus—speaking across centuries, yet offering a remarkably similar promise. Both readings come to us in moments of human weariness. Isaiah addresses a people who feel forgotten in exile; Jesus speaks to crowds burdened by expectation, hardship, and the weight of their own limitations. And into those situations, both proclaim a God who does not grow tired, even when we do.

Isaiah begins with a question from God: “To whom then will you compare me?” It is a reminder that God is not simply a bigger or stronger version of ourselves. God is wholly other—Creator of the ends of the earth, the One who calls out the stars by name. And yet this transcendent God bends down to notice the faint and the weary. Isaiah speaks of divine strength that does not crush but instead renews. “They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” These are not triumphal words about never stumbling, but hopeful words about being upheld when we do.

Into that same human experience, Jesus speaks: “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” At first glance, that sounds like an invitation to collapse, to lay everything down. But Jesus goes on: “Take my yoke upon you.” A yoke is for work, for partnership, for moving forward. Jesus does not take away responsibility; rather, he offers to share its weight. His yoke is “easy”—not because life becomes simple, but because we do not carry it alone.

Both passages confront a common temptation: the belief that we must manage our lives by our own strength. Isaiah challenges the worry that God has disregarded us; Jesus challenges the fear that we must earn our place through endless effort. Together, they remind us of a deeper truth: human strength will fail, but God’s strength will not. And God’s strength is not given begrudgingly but generously, tenderly, and with profound understanding of who we are.

Perhaps each of us brings to this service some form of weariness—physical tiredness, emotional heaviness, the strain of caring for others, the quiet fatigue that comes from uncertainty. The scriptures today do not dismiss those feelings; they acknowledge them. But they also offer a promise: that when our strength falters, God’s does not. When our resources run dry, God’s replenish. When we cannot imagine taking the next step, Christ walks beside us, carrying what we cannot carry on our own. So as we continue in worship, may we hear both Isaiah’s assurance and Jesus’ invitation. May we bring our burdens before the God who neither slumbers nor grows weary, and may we receive the rest and renewal that Christ longs to give. And as we rise again to walk the path set before us, may we do so yoked to him—strengthened, lifted, and held by the everlasting God.

Amen.

Sermon: God’s Hope in Unexpected Places (7th Dec, 2025, Year A)

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Readings

Isaiah 11.1–10 – A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Matthew 3.1–12 – In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” ’Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Sermon

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I’ve often thought that a key indicator of a mature Christian faith is being able to hold two seemingly opposing ideas in tension with one another and being okay with that. And in many ways, this is embodied in this season of Advent. Because Advent is a season that invites us to stand in two places at once: looking back and looking forward; remembering and hoping while also longing and preparing. It is the season that teaches us how to wait— not passively as the word suggests, but with expectation, with purpose, with hearts awake to what God is doing.

Our readings this morning hold these Advent tensions together beautifully. Isaiah gives us a deeply cherished vision: “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse.” Matthew, meanwhile, confronts us with the unsettling figure of John the Baptist—wild, urgent, uncompromising—crying out in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!”

Isaiah speaks of a future that is tender, surprising, and full of hope. John the Baptist speaks of a present moment that is sharp, demanding, and impossible to ignore. And between them, we discover the Advent truth: God’s hope arrives both as comfort and as challenge.

The Stump and the Shoot: God’s Hope in Unexpected Places

Isaiah begins with an image of devastation. A stump is what remains after a tree has been felled—lifeless, cut down, apparently finished. For Isaiah’s first hearers, that stump represented the collapse of the monarchy, the failure of leadership, the disappointment of what had once seemed full of promise.

And yet, out of that dead stump, Isaiah sees a green shoot—a sign of new life where no life was expected.

This is one of Advent’s most important messages:
God’s hope does not grow out of our strength but often from our very places of loss.
Where we see an ending, God sees a beginning. Where we see failure, God plants redemption. Where we see a stump, God brings forth a shoot.

And the shoot Isaiah describes is no ordinary sprout. It is the Messiah—the one filled with the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might. The one who judges not by appearances but with righteousness and equity. The one who brings peace so deep and so strange that natural enemies dwell together: wolves and lambs, leopards and goats, lions eating straw, and a little child leading them.

Isaiah dares to imagine a world reordered by the peace of God. Not a peace that papers over conflict, but a deep healing of creation itself.

John the Baptist: Preparing the Way

If Isaiah’s vision feels like a dream of what could be, John the Baptist drags us into the urgent present. Matthew tells us he appears in the wilderness proclaiming, with no smoothing of the edges, “Repent!”

We might be tempted to hear that word as a scolding. But repentance in Scripture is much more than guilt or regret. It means turning around, reorienting, realigning ourselves with the way of God.

John is not shaming the crowds; he is inviting them.

Inviting them—inviting us—to live in such a way that we can actually recognise the One who is coming.

Because here is another Advent truth:
Hope requires preparation.
If Isaiah shows us God’s promise, John shows us our response.

We prepare the way of the Lord not by frantic activity, but by clearing the clutter of our hearts. We make straight the paths of the Lord by attending to what in our lives has become crooked, hardened, or tangled.

John’s warning to the Pharisees and Sadducees is sharp: “Do not presume.” Advent is not a season for presumption. We do not presume that heritage, habit, or tradition alone prepare us for Christ. We prepare by turning—freshly, willingly—toward the light.

Advent Hope: Consolation and Challenge

If we allow Isaiah and John to speak together, something profound emerges.

Isaiah says:
God is bringing new life, new peace, a new world.
John says:
So live as if that world is truly coming.

Isaiah reveals the hope.
John summons the response.
And Jesus—the One whom both point toward—embodies the promise and fulfils it.

Advent hope is not vague optimism. It is the conviction that God is already at work renewing creation—sometimes quietly, like a shoot from a stump; sometimes dramatically, like a prophet in the wilderness.

The question for us is not whether God is at work, but whether we are ready to receive what God is doing.

What Might This Look Like for Us Today?

First, it might mean allowing God to speak into places that feel like stumps—places where hope seems cut down.
• In our world, that may be conflict, injustice, or division.
• In our communities, it might be weariness or uncertainty.
• In our own lives, it may be disappointment, grief, or fear.

Advent invites us to look again and see that God can bring life from what seems lifeless.

Second, it might mean taking John’s call to repentance seriously. Not as a burden, but as liberation.
Repentance is God’s gift to help us travel light—to let go of what hinders love, justice, and joy.

Third, it might mean committing ourselves to the peace Isaiah describes. The peace of the Messiah is not sentimental; it is courageous. It calls us to seek reconciliation where there has been conflict, to act justly where there has been inequity, to embody gentleness in a world that often rewards harshness.

This is not easy work. But it is the work of those who follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

The Table: Where Hope and Repentance Meet

In a moment, we will come to the Lord’s Table. And there, the message of Advent becomes visible and tangible.

At this table, Christ meets us not because we have perfectly prepared ourselves, but because we are hungry.
Here, the shoot from the stump of Jesse nourishes us with grace.
Here, our repentance is met with mercy.
Here, the future hope of God touches the present moment.

And as we receive the bread and wine, we are invited to become, in God’s hands, signs of the same hope Isaiah saw—small shoots of God’s kingdom growing in the world.

Conclusion

So, this Advent:
May Isaiah open our eyes to God’s surprising hope.
May John the Baptist open our hearts to God’s transforming call.
And may Christ, whose coming we await, make us ready—ready to receive him, ready to follow him, ready to bear his light into the world.

Amen.