forest hill 
December 14, 2025
"A Time for Singing"
The passages that churches around the world are reading for this third Sunday of Advent speak of the future God promises. The reading from Luke’s gospel is Mary’s song, when she celebrates how God “has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly” in calling her to bear the baby Jesus.
The reading from Isaiah gives us another snapshot of a world transformed. Here is a glimpse of God’s purpose for Creation from the beginning until now; the same purpose that Jesus’ coming was intended to further: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”
Each reading is a reminder that as we prepare for the coming of Jesus into the world, this about far more than the birth of one baby in one moment of time. God’s purpose, and Jesus’ purpose, has always been about nothing less than the transformation of everything that degrades and damages life, and the establishment of a reign of peace where every life is valued and every barrier is removed. We aren’t just waiting for our winter holiday this month; we are waiting on God who comes to re-make the world.
And as Christians we live been the dream and the reality, the already and the not yet. We know what God wants. We see the seeds of it in how we can make life better for those around us. We know that we cannot, alone, do everything that we or God want. And we know that as we wait on God, even the small things that we do can make a difference.
I was really struck this week by the impact of God’s good news on people with disabilities, in this week’s Isaiah passage. The blind, the deaf, the lame and the speechless are all singled out in the Isaiah passage as recipients of God’s blessing. In the world God is building, those disabilities will not degrade life. In the world God is building, those disabilities will not prevent people from being all they were meant to be. In the world God is building, those things will not prevent people from understanding, connecting, acting and sharing in all that life has to offer. For this God has acted from the beginning of time, calling us to catch sight of that dream. For this God sent Jesus into the world.
This is the world we wait for. This is the vision that inspires the accessibility lift that we dedicate this week. This is the world that Jesus was born to inspire. This is the world that God calls us to bring to birth.
Join us this week as we dedicate our long-hoped-for accessibility life, and finally welcome into our building people who have been unable to climb our stairs. Join us as we celebrate the transformation Jesus calls us to, and re-commit ourselves to life for all in all its fullness.