12.15.19 - The Prospect of Joy (Kenny Camacho)

SCRIPTURE (from the Revised Common Lectionary): Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 1:46-55; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Jesus’s birth makes real joy possible because Jesus’s arrival means the Kingdom of God is here. The effect of this for us, Isaiah teaches, is like the arrival of rain on parched desert ground. Oftentimes, we allow the realities of our shortcomings to lead us into places of shame or despair...but the forgiveness Jesus offers is not something he promises in some distant future; it is something that is available to us right now. This season, we want to celebrate the arrival of a God not only of justice and mercy, but of joy.