God, in His infinite mercy, has unfailingly provided abundant doses of hope to his often-erring, wayward, distracted people, through the voices of His attentive, obedient servants.  Even the bleakest of times have contained still-simmering embers of that hope. When, in God’s inscrutable timing, and in His unfathomable plan, the Kingdom moved into the neighborhood in the person of Jesus, the nearness of the divine-now-become-human detonated an age of unprecedented hope to the receptive and an age of unspeakable anguish to those in denial. 

Isaiah 9:2; Luke 1:5-20; Matthew 2:1-10; Luke 2:8-20

   Isa. 9:2 – the thrill of an end _________________________________________

   Luke 1:5-20 – the thrill of an end _____________________________________

   Matt. 2:1-10 – the thrill of an end _____________________________________

   Luke 2:8-20 – the thrill of an end ______________________________________