From the Stump of Jesse

“I know that so many of our families, our marriages, our working relationships, our friendships, our churches, our communities, are frayed. I know it is easy to feel like we are standing in that burned out forest, smoke and ash beneath our feet. But I also know that in the burned out forest in which we live, a tiny shoot sprouts from a branch – a shoot from the stump of Jesse. I know that when the One born in Bethlehem arrives, through him we will have come to understand ourselves to be freer than we have ever understood ourselves to be free before.” Larry Hayward preaches on Isaiah 11:1-10. (This sermon was preached at the 8:30 a.m. service.)