God's Continual Guidance

God's Creative Word
God Calls For Justice:  Justice Enacted
Praise for God's Justice

Isaiah 58:9-14

The Message

 ^6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
   to break the chains of injustice,
   get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
   free the oppressed,
   cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
   sharing your food with the hungry,
   inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
   putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
   being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
   and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
   The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
   You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

 ^9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
   quit blaming victims,
   quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
   and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
   your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
   I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
   firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
   a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
   rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
   restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
   make the community livable again. ^13-14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath
   and don't use my holy day for personal advantage,
If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
   God's holy day as a celebration,
If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,'
   making money, running here and there—
Then you'll be free to enjoy God!
   Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.
I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob."
   Yes! God says so!

For Reflection

Last Sunday was a service of hymn singing, a service devoted to praise.  We don't do this often, so, when we have a Sunday of praise, it is special, a day of celebration, not "business as usual."  Also last Sunday a news commentator spoke of America's growing poor population and our reluctance to support programs for the poor because of a growing pressure to cut government expenditures.

Perhaps our churches need to take a hint from Isaiah. Treat the Sabbath as a day of Joy, celebrating God and spend the intervening time ministering to the poor and take up the slack where the poor have little assistance and are in need of sanctuary.  Christian hospitality can break the chains of injustice.

Pray

that you will dedicate your life to fulfilling God's call to break the chains of injustice.  Pray that you will approach God's work in humility offering hospitality to all.