Dr Angela Sawyer joins us to explore the tender and powerful image of God in Isaiah 40, as well as the cosmic and personal hope the end of exile represents to Israel. We talk about suffering and the yearning for freedom and fulfilment in Israel’s foundational story, and how it informs and shapes ours (communally). In a few short phrases Mark 1 outlines the subversive character of Mark’s writing, and of Jesus’ message of ‘good news’. We note that everybody came to hear John talk about repentance: what is the peculiar task of preaching about repentance in the 21st century? We highlight some key Advent questions: for whom are we waiting and why?

We refer to Ched Myers’, Binding the Strong Man and Rick Morton’s One Hundred of Dirt.