Scripture and Questions for Study and Reflection:

Read Isaiah 9: 6-7.

1. This morning we lit the candle of hope on the Advent wreath. In what ways is God the source of all of our hope? How do today’s Isaiah texts remind us that God offers hope to the hopeless?

2. In what ways had the Israelites wandered from God, bringing about their own exile and captivity? In what ways do we wander today? What does our subsequent suffering look like as a result?

3. Pastor Mick shared Pastor Matt Rawle’s quote again this week: “The church gathers in the present to ponder the past for a future hope.” How is this similar to what the Ghost of Christmas Past did for Scrooge? How does the Holy Ghost do this for us?

4. The Israelites were held captive by an enemy nation, Babylon. Pastor Mick said Scrooge was held captive by his own greed. What holds you captive? How can you be set free? How can you help set others free

5. Read Isaiah 9: 6-7 again. What stands out to you? Why?

6. Read Isaiah 11: 1-2. Is this “shoot” the same as the “child” mentioned in Isaiah 9: 6-7? What child is this? How does having the New Testament help us to better understand these verses?

7. Read Isaiah 53: 4-6. Is this “Suffering Servant” the same person prophesied in the previous two passages?

8. Why do we need this “Suffering Servant”? What does he do for us? How does he accomplish what he does for us?

9. In Isaiah 53: 6 he says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” What does this mean to you? What does it say about our own forgiveness? What does it say about our tendency to judge others?

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.