Third Sunday of Advent: December 15, 2019
Leap of Hope 
by Pastor Jay Shailer
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
    the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus 
2 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.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
    and make firm the feeble knees.
4 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."
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 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;
7 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.
8 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 traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
9 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.
10 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.

-- Isaiah 35:1-10
As a Christian, above all else, I pray everyday that I live with hope. Theologically of course, this is hope in the resurrection in Christ. But I'm also convinced that I will be nudged along and bolstered from the hope I see in everyday life. Just like most of us, I see that hope in the people I'm around the most, and of course for me, that is my family.

Many of you have met my middle son, Evan. If you haven't, Evan is 10 years old, and lives with many developmental delays due to cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder. For me Evan is living breathing hope. When you look at him you can't help but see his limitations. Evan can't walk. Evan can't speak. Yet, what I've come to see is a child who has done nothing other than break through the barriers that everyone has placed upon him. You can never say never with him. The moment you might think that he's topped out in a physical therapy goal or that he'll never reach a milestone, he makes you look silly.

I know this happens because God has placed teachers, therapists, doctors, friends, family, and neighbors into his life to walk with him to get the best out of him. This gives me hope that God has and will do the same for all of us. For whatever reason, it's just so much clearer to see with him.

So, I cling to my hope for him. Because I can see the promised future the prophet Isaiah envisions unfolding before me in what has become one of my closely favorite texts. I know that God accompanies my son, and I have hope that someday, "the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the dead unstopped; and the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy."

I pray that you carry this hope, along with all the other hopes into the promised birth of Jesus, because it will be that time and place where we will see the true birth of our hope takes life among us.
Prayer: 
O' Lord Christ, as we wait for your hope to come into our lives, give us that hope and trust of your grace to reside in us. Amen.
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