Mark Niethammer preaches on God’s love. God's healing presence appears in unexpected places—transforming wilderness into blooming gardens and making broken people whole, even amid our world's persistent pain and struggle. This Advent season calls us to advocate for forgiveness, peace, and justice, trusting that God meets our challenges with words of love, wholeness, and restoration. Just as Isaiah envisioned the desert blossoming, peace can flourish in the most unlikely circumstances when we open ourselves to God's transforming grace.

Preaching text: Isaiah 35:1-7

Katy Warren preaches on time. Prolonged waiting can cause our hope and optimism to dwindle, especially when days pass without visible change and peace feels distant. Actively looking for signs of hope and celebrating even the smallest progress as "branches of hope" can shift our perspective. Whether we're waiting for healing, strength, or unfulfilled dreams, searching for these signs of hope allows us to live in a sacred time and maintain our faith that something is about to happen. Hope is action.

Preaching text: Isaiah 11:1-10

Sara Olson-Smith preaches on hope. Advent calls us to let our dreams of God's future actively shape our present lives. Like backward design, we can start with Isaiah's vision of peace and work backwards to today, asking what steps we might take this week, even today, to move toward that dream. Though the vision seems idealistic or even inconceivable, these Advent days remind us that seemingly impossible things become possible with God. When we imagine it, we can begin to live it.

Preaching text: Isaiah 2:1-5