11.29.2010

Hope: Advent Devotional - Week One

Welcome to week one of this Advent season! I have decided to try something a little bit different for my blog this year. I wanted to create a unique way to share this special time of year with all of you. So, I have put together a series of musical devotionals that take us on a journey from Advent to Epiphany. Each devotional in the series will include a visual word cloud that I hope aides in your reflection time, a Scripture passage, a music video, and a prayer.

So take a minute to light a candle and reflect on today's message of Hope.

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10 (The Message)

Isaiah 11 A Green Shoot from Jesse's Stump

^1-5 A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse's stump, from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
   the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
   the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God will be all his joy and delight.
He won't judge by appearances,
   won't decide on the basis of hearsay.
He'll judge the needy by what is right,
   render decisions on earth's poor with justice.
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
   A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.
Each morning he'll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,
   and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.

A Living Knowledge of God

^6-9The wolf will romp with the lamb,
   the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
   and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
   their calves and cubs grow up together,
   and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
   the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
   on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
   a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.

¹⁰On that day, Jesse's Root will be raised high, posted as a rallying banner for the peoples. The nations will all come to him. His headquarters will be glorious.