This episode explores Isaiah 8:19–9:7 and the Advent message: don’t seek spirits or empty optimism but inquire of God. It traces Israel’s dark fear, the prophetic promise of a coming light in Galilee, and the birth of a child called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Drawing on stories from Stockdale to Bonhoeffer, the sermon distinguishes Christian hope from naive optimism, describing hope as waiting with expectation in God’s fulfilled and yet-to-be-completed promise, and calling listeners to live as carriers of light in the in-between.