Third Sunday in Advent, Year C

Behold! God is my salvation;
I will trust and I will not fear,
for God is my strength and my might
and has become my salvation.”.
~Isaiah 12:2
 
Now blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of those things spoken to her by the Holy One.
~Luke 1:45
 
We do just about everything we can not to be (or appear to be) vulnerable. The idea of being at the mercy of others can create a crisis within us. And yet, with each of the texts for this Sunday trust in God for salvation comes amidst various degrees of precarity. As much as we might prefer it otherwise, this is the territory of faith.
 
Isaiah 12 is written in a time when the world as it had been known is gone. It simply no longer exists. The psalmist calls for intentionality in our choice to celebrate no matter the circumstances—not at the right time, but the appointed time. Revelation is written in a time of extreme danger, so it is written in code—for those with “ears to hear.” And in Luke, the promise both Elisabeth and Mary hold in their very bodies are at constant risk, as are they themselves.
 
We are by no means the first to find our faith in the midst of hardship and uncertainty. These stories of ours are written by those who know trouble all too well, who face it constantly. And yet, they write and they sing of belief and hope and promise, of joy and love and peace from deep within those circumstances. They know God’s people have been this way before and look across the ages to remind us of the same.
 
​Enter into worship.
 
Readings:  Isaiah 12:1-6 † Psalm 118:1-9, 14-21 † Revelation 1:4-6, 8, 12-18 † Luke 1:39-45
 
 
About the Art: The art for this Advent season is shaped around the theme of “Many Pieces, One Story.” Each week the art will feature a quilt that holds meaning. The crib-sized quilt pictured on the front is probably 90 years old. It was passed down from Pat Sharpe’s mother who was not a quilter.

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