Thanks, Michelangelo.
I have had the privilege of visiting Rome and touring the Vatican Museum on two different occasions. The tour ends with stepping into the Sistine Chapel. It is breathtaking and I could have sat in there for the rest of the day just looking up.
But God is depicted as an old man, lying on his side, perhaps even tired and weary from the work of creation.
And, interestingly, I tended to think of God like that long before I saw the Sistine Chapel. An aged grandfather type, worn out.
Yet, one of the most well-known statements in the Bible that points to the birth of Christ, the “For unto us a child is born” passage from Isaiah 9:2-7 describes God as a being of great passion and strength.
This Sunday at the Gathering Church we begin the Advent season by focusing on the theme of hope. The coming of Christ represents the passion of God for people who live in a world they cannot fix and who pursue lives they really cannot control.
Would it make any difference in our lives if we knew the Hope that God intended for us?
Let’s find out.