December 8, 2019

One Thousand Days of Love
Advent 2, Year A
Maureen Belote

 

Isaiah 11 ~ “Righteousness will be the belt around his hips.”
What does this mean?

In Luke 3:7 9, John the Baptist called for repentance and righteous behavior such as is pleasing to God. What is righteousness? It is being just and right with God. The dictionary defines is as “the quality of being morally correct and justifiable.” It can also be considered synonymous with “rightness” or being “upright.” Today I will ask you to do something righteous, something just.

Each of us has loved a three year old. I want you to close your eyes and picture one near and dear to you, a memory perhaps of your own child when they were 3, or a grandchild. (Got it?) Are they smiling loving? I’m sure the child you pictured in your heart would be represented by the fully developed child.

When we add the nine months of in-utero development together with the first two years of the baby’s post-natal life, we are exploring these first 1000 days when the infant’s brain, particularly the right brain, is expanding at a phenomenal rate. Research shows that it is the right hemisphere of the brain that is largely responsible for emotional and body based regulation. This is when children learn how it feels to be a human being, if and how they are special, loved, or worthy, what to expect from relationships, and whether their world is secure or insecure.

Look at the difference* between the brain of a child with good social and nutritional support, on the left, and the that of a deprived child on the right.

Read the full sermon text HERE.
*Referenced images are included in the full text version of this sermon.

WORSHIP BULLETINS ADDITIONAL SERMONS