Hope

Second Sunday of Advent

 

 

 

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,

   and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

   the spirit of counsel and might,

   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. 

 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

   or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

   and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

   and a little child shall lead them. 

The cow and the bear shall graze,

   their young shall lie down together;

   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. 

They will not hurt or destroy

   on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

   as the waters cover the sea.

 

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples;

    the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. 

 

Isaiah 11:1-10

 

Relief of Tree of Jesse

Stone relief sculpture

Cathedral St. Peter

Worms, Germany

  

The North aisle contains five late Gothic tympana — a Tree of Jesse and four scenes from the life of Christ — which once adorned the now-demolished cloister.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Worms_Dom_st_peter_tympanum_006.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

Hope is patiently waiting expectantly

for the intangible to become reality.

~ Avery D. Miller

 

 

 

 

Hope is the power of being cheerful

in circumstances that we know

to be desperate.

~ G. K. Chesterton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Betsy Hoke, on the right, had a party to welcome Maria Rosa Galter

as the new Executive Director of AfricAid.

Congratulations, Maria!

 

Nina Shuyler with Carolyn standing in front of one of Ashley's favorite paintings.

  

Nina is the mother of Ashley Shuyler, the young woman who founded Africaid.

Ashley has now finished her graduate degrees at Stanford and is getting married to Phil (I don't know his last name)!

Wonderful story!!!

http://www.africaid.com/history

 

 

On Wednesday, in the middle of the snow and cold,

Jeanne Gibbard and I warmed up by seeing

A Christmas Carol at the Arvada Center.

 

 

After the party on Thursday evening, Evergreen, Colorado

Photo by Larry Caine

 

"The Apartment"

by Carolyn Campbell

 

Carolyn Campbell at

Artists with Altitude

Opening Reception

Christies of Genesee

 

 

At our Rotary party, Carma and Linda gave Santa a surprise!

 

 

 

 

 

Hope is the feeling we have

that the feeling we have

is not permanent.

~ Mignon McLaughlin

 

 

 

 

 

December 8, 2013      Second Sunday of Advent

 

Previous OPQs may be found at:
     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

 

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”[a]

4  John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:1-12

New International Version (NIV)

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

 

 

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

 

 

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, 1918 - 2013

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 11:1-10

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Romans 15:4-13

Matthew 3:1-12