Forgiveness is a subject that impacts each of us. We all need forgiveness and we all need to forgive. The subject can stir up emotions?powerful, positive emotions when forgiveness led to reconciliation; powerful, negative emotions when forgiveness was withheld and relationship remains severed. Our passage of Scripture today combines both of these experiences. We can remember the gracious, embodied gift of God?s forgiveness in Jesus. We can also remember the waiting that occurred among God?s people, waiting for a definitive word from God. It is important to reflect and focus on forgiveness because each of us will face times, again, when we both need to seek forgiveness and when we need to offer forgiveness. How does the gift of Jesus help to make us forgiving people and forgiven people?

Have you ever read an email, text message, book, or letter too quickly and so misunderstood what was being communicated? In our hectic and busy world, there can be instant communication at any time. Not only do computers, cell phones, and tablets facilitate communication, but they increase the expectation of what is a timely response. In the midst of this hurriedness, communicating slowly may not be an option. Yet slow communication is exactly what is needed sometimes. We sometimes call this ?thinking before speaking?! Perhaps you have had the experience of waiting before hitting ?Reply? and found that your response to an angry email changed?or perhaps was not sent at all. Perhaps you found that by listening, the communication wasn?t as angry as you initially sensed. Advent is a time of waiting. It is a time of slowing. We are encouraged not to rush to the celebration of Christmas. Perhaps we can think of Advent as a gift of waiting, of communicating thoughtfully, to make sure we don?t misunderstand God?s communication of Jesus.

If you have ever seen flashing lights in your rearview mirror though you were a model driver; if you have ever been asked about a rumor that was spread behind your back; if you have ever been found guilty?in a court or a simple conversation?when you were innocent; if you have ever been terminated without cause, then you have a glimpse of the experience that many of this passage?s first hearers felt. Isaiah 42 is part of a section that captured the words of God to a group of people suffering injustice. The Jewish people had been in exile in Babylon for almost fifty years. Injustice can roil up within as rage, anger, bitterness, helplessness, frustration. All of those things can lead for our desire for vengeance, revenge.