QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.”

~Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French existentialist philosopher

“To be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal.”

~Simone Weil (1909-1943), French philosopher, mystic and political activist

“[T]here is, finally, no intelligible (much less persuasive) secular version of the conviction that every human being is sacred; the only intelligible versions are religious.”

~Michael J. Perry, legal scholar at Emory School of Law, in The Idea of Human Rights (Oxford Press, 2000)

“The creation of the world was a very great thing, but not so great as the incarnation of Christ. It was a great thing for God to make the creature, but not so great as for the Creator himself to become a creature. Many great things were accomplished between the fall of man and the incarnation of Christ: but God becoming man was greater than all.”

~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in A History of the Work of Redemption

“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.”

~Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), American Puritan poet

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

~William Shakespeare (1564-1616), in As You Like It

“Yeah. After the first 20 years of toiling, sure. Then it was overnight.”

~James Brown, host of The NFL Today on CBS, after being told he was an “overnight success”

“Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.”

~Psalm 121:4-5 (ESV)

SERMON PASSAGE

Isaiah 9:1-7 (ESV)

Isaiah 9

1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

2 The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone.

3 You have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

4 For the yoke of his burden,

and the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.

5 For every boot of the tramping warrior

in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 40

27 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”?

28 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.

29 He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they 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.

Isaiah 41

10 fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 53

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul

he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one,

my servant, make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 63

16 For you are our Father,

though Abraham does not know us,

and Israel does not acknowledge us;

you, O Lord, are our Father,

our Redeemer from of old is your name.