Sermon Seeds: In God’s Love

Sunday, December 28, 2025
First Sunday of Christmas| Year A
(Liturgical Color: White)

Lectionary Citations
Isaiah 63:7-9 • Psalm 148 • Hebrews 2:10-18 • Matthew 2:13-23
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=c&d=8&y=17134

Focus Scripture: Isaiah 63:7-9
Focus Theme: “In God’s Love”
Series: May Peace Be Within You (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

Perhaps the ancient Greeks had the right idea about love. They had several words that we translate as “love.” In their language, they distinguished between different forms, sources, or expressions of love. As a result, they communicated the nuances in a way that our language limits. The love of friendship is different, according to their definitions, than the love of a parent. Erotic love should be differentiated from platonic feelings. Then there is the love that obsesses over another, which modern psychology would argue should not be considered true love at all. There is a particular love that is abiding, sacrificial, and complete. That love is perhaps the highest possible expression of love, and it is the one most associated with the love of God.

Yet, when contemporary literature refers to being in love, that condition is almost exclusively reserved for romantic love. The concept of being in love is often portrayed as relatively new, yet even the fatalistic writer of Ecclesiastes would likely affirm that even romantic love is part of the category of nothing new under the sun. What then, could being in God’s love mean? What if the feelings, hopes, and promise of being in love could apply to a love that is abiding, sacrificial, steadfast, faithful, and complete based not on romance but on covenant? While some would, appropriately, suggest that is the best scenario for marital love, confining love would seem to be a fruitless exercise.

Beyond the plethora of evidence of the human experience of love, the biblical witness reflects the expansiveness of love. God’s love, in particular, is the anchoring theme from Genesis to Revelation and prominently features in the prophecy of Isaiah. That does not suggest the loving relationship between the Holy One and the children of the covenant does not hold tension, distrust, and heartbreak. God’s love is true but that does not make the relationship an easy one to maintain. These verses of Isaiah only hint at what the far lengthier passage it introduces will attest:

This lengthy pericope is a national supplication reflecting the dire circumstances and bitter despair in the face of God’s ostensible neglect of His people (c£ 59:9-13, and see Ps 44, 6o, 74, 79, 8o, 83, 85, 89, 90, 94, 106). The prophet’s plea harps on the disparity between God’s miracles in days of yore (in Egypt at the Reed Sea and subsequently in the desert) and His present-day abandonment of Israel (the destruction of the Temple and the cities of Judah) that has caused the people to despair and to stray from His path. Following the introduction, in which the Lord’s prowess is proclaimed in a general statement (v. 7), the prophet reminisces regarding His past kindnesses (vv. 8-9). Contrary to expectations, however, the nation rebelled against the Lord, and thus He became their enemy and waged war against them (v. 10). In their hour of need, the nation remembers God’s past compassion, specifically the miracles at the sea and in the desert (vv. 11-14).
Shalom M. Paul

A love that makes enemies is the content of nightmares and horror films rather than an epic story of redemptive love. Notably, this passage is located at the end of a long prophetic book recounting an extensive period of time from 739–681 BC. Multiple generations and kingdoms as well as invading nation states mark this era.The people have endured and survived the Assyrians and Babylonians and the promise of new life and return from exile awaits. The return, however, also involves reunion with the remnant who remained in their home region. The return also requires rebuilding of the ruins a hostile adversary wrecked upon their territory.

There is reason for hope and rejoicing as well as despair. Likely, remembering the past deeds of their God provided comfort and encouragement. The One who sent plagues to their enemies, parted the Red Sea, and dropped manna from heaven would surely be with them in the next stage of their life. At the same time, remembering can also be disheartening. They might have remembered that entering the land promised to them required more battles. They may have been dismayed to recall how many times they needed to be saved from disaster, destruction, and displacement. God has been with them, but it has never been easy. Still, their remembrance leads them to praise:

The tone now changes to a hymn of praise, with a liturgical setting still in mind: the singer recounts, which implies he has an audience (Pss. 9.14, 79.13, 118.17). The song has many of the familiar terms of covenant relationship: hesed (‘gracious deeds’), remember, house of Israel, mercy (the compassion word seen before). The word hesed bookends verse 7, enveloping all in his covenant love: the beginning and the end of the story of the LORD. However, the song goes on to recount the failures and dishonesties of the people. Despite his direct presence among them (literally ‘face’), they failed him. In verse 9 the prophet described how the LORD carried the people: in 46.3–4 the LORD’S capacity to carry his people was part of the claim of his absolute supremacy: here it is a marker of his faithful love. A phrase of particular significance here is ‘grieved his holy spirit’ (10). The phrase ‘holy spirit’ has not been seen before in the book and indeed is used only once elsewhere in the Old Testament, in Psalm 51.11, where it connects to the LORD’S presence as it does here. With so few references, it is hard to know what can be meant by grieving the holy spirit in this context. That it is connected to rebellion is clear, and even Psalm 51.11 would support this idea since the psalmist clearly fears the loss of the holy spirit as a consequence of his sin. In Ephesians 4.30 the phrase ‘do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God’ is used in a list of instructions about how God’s people are to conduct themselves. However, the verse in Ephesians also speaks of being ‘marked with a seal for the day of redemption’, images with a strong exodus overtone.
Jenni Williams

Isaiah 63 reminds us that God’s love, while faithful and abiding, calls us into mutuality and commitments. It does not move with the simplicity of the Christmas romantic comedy where everything miraculously, and often incredibly, resolves itself in time for the story to end. It’s a love that beckons us in, to go deeper, and to immerse ourselves in it. It is a gift, offered freely and abundantly, that makes God vulnerable to us. Like the prophet’s audience, humanity continues to offer disappointment and heartbreak in return to the God who loves without fail.

Did God become an enemy to the people or did the people fail to reciprocate God’s holy love and mistake God’s accountability for abandonment or aggression?

The biblical witness does reflect an epic love story in which God’s love is the constant. Being in God’s love presents differently in the valley versus the mountaintop, when entering the promised land versus exile, worshiping in the sanctuary or surrounded by devastation. Yet, it is still God’s love, and God’s people have been able to find hope, love, peace, joy, rest, salvation, redemption, reconciliation, and a future…in God’s love.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
“Praise Song for the Day”
By Elizabeth Alexander

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

For Further Reflection
“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.” ― Brennan Manning
“God’s love is not wearied by our sins is and relentless in its determination that we be cured at whatever cost to us or Him.” — C. S. Lewis
“When you know how much God is in love with you, then you can only live your life radiating that love.” — Mother Teresa

Works Cited
Paul, Shalom M. Isaiah 40-66 Translation and Commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012.
Williams, Jenni. The Kingdom of our God: A Theological Commentary on Isaiah. London: SCM Press, 2019.

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
During the Season of Christmas, invite a member of the faith community to share their testimony.

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/christmas-1a-december-28/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.