Tomorrow evening, we start reading through   The Screwtape Letters   at Anglican Church of the Redeemer.  We'll meet bi-weekly, and I plan to post a 5 min. video here after each session to summarize what we've discussed.  See   cslewischattanooga.org   for more.

When the angel Gabriel came to the virgin Mary and announced God's call to her to be the mother of the long-looked for Messiah, it is of interest to us this morning as we celebrate his birth, that Gabriel seems to have read Isaiah chapter 9!  We have just read this wonderful prophecy of the birth of Jesus by the prophet Isaiah, given some 700 years before Jesus' birth. And there we were told that the Prince of Peace would assume the throne of David, establish his reign forever, and his kingdom would have no end.  Now listen to what Gabriel said:   Luke 1:30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” That's Isaiah