Jesus Fulfills the Promise to Abraham

Creation: A Divine Cycle
The Birthing of a New Community

Re-Created to Live in Harmony

Galatians 3:15-20. The Message

15-18 Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person’s will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say “to descendants,” referring to everybody in general, but “to your descendant” (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will.
18-20 What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously, this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.

For Reflection

Christ did not abolish the law, and neither has Paul. Christ's mission was to clarify Mosiac law and to expand its interpretation.  The new covenant grants us freedom to abide, not by the letter, but rather, by the intent of the law and the rule of love.  The direct blessing of God is written on our hearts and embedded into our souls.  Armed with the love of God, we are free to act.

Pray

Thank God for the freedom to act in a loving collaboration with God. Pray that you will listen to the will of God and open your soul to the action of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit Made You a Believer

Creation: A Divine Cycle
The Birthing of a New Community

Re-Created to Live in Harmony

Galatians 3:1-6. The Message

Trust in Christ, Not the Law

3 You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.
2-4 Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!
5-6 Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.

For Reflection

Are we, like those the apostle is reproofing, worthy of a similar admonishment?  Have we also embraced the faith of Christ but still continue to seek justification by secular or religious law?  Are we living in an age of sermons and sacraments taken in vain?

Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate our faith by examining it from the case of Abraham.  What do we believe and to what extent has that belief turned into right living?

Pray

Pray for the revival of authentic faith.  Pray so that you might restore your confidence in the rightness of being obedient to the Way of Christ. 

God's Gracious Ways

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Praises God

Psalm 145:13-21. The Message

13 Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal;
    you never get voted out of office.
God always does what he says,
    and is gracious in everything he does.
14 God gives a hand to those down on their luck,
    gives a fresh start to those ready to quit.
15 All eyes are on you, expectant;
    you give them their meals on time.
16 Generous to a fault,
    you lavish your favor on all creatures.
17 Everything God does is right—
    the trademark on all his works is love.
18 God’s there, listening for all who pray,
    for all who pray and mean it.
19 He does what’s best for those who fear him—
    hears them call out and saves them.
20 God sticks by all who love him,
    but it’s all over for those who don’t.
21 My mouth is filled with God’s praise.
    Let everything living bless him,
    bless his holy name from now to eternity!

For Reflection

To all who love God, God is generous.  To all who love God, God is gracious.  To all who love God, God provides sustenance. To all who love God, God helps.  To all who love God, God loves. To all who love God, God listens.  To all who love God, God saves them from themselves.

To all who do not love God, God leaves them to suffer their folly, to fail by their own devices.  To all who do not love God, God promises the same blessings to those who choose to accept God and abide in God.

Pray

Praise God for all that God provides. Praise God because God is the creator.  Praise God for God's offer to provide to all who choose to abide in God.

Humans Continue God's Caring Ways

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Praises God

Deuteronomy 24:17-22. The Message

17-18 Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don’t take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan. Don’t ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.
19-22 When you harvest your grain and forget a sheaf back in the field, don’t go back and get it; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that God, your God, will bless you in all your work. When you shake the olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches and strip them bare—what’s left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don’t take every last grape—leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t ever forget that you were a slave in Egypt. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.

For Reflection

Our God cares for us. We should care for each other.  Our God is just, we should be just.  Our god is compassionate. We should be compassionate. Our God protects us. We should protect each other.

Pray

Pray that you will never forget what God has done for you.  Pray that you will be humbled by the blessings of God.  Pray that you will work for justice and act justly.  Pray that you will be compassionate.  Pray that you will serve God and each other.

Wisdom Present at Creation

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Praises God

Proverbs 8:22-31.   The Message

22-31 “God sovereignly made me—the first, the basic—
    before he did anything else.
I was brought into being a long time ago,
    well before Earth got its start.
I arrived on the scene before Ocean,
    yes, even before Springs and Rivers and Lakes.
Before Mountains were sculpted and Hills took shape,
    I was already there, newborn;
Long before God stretched out Earth’s Horizons,
    and tended to the minute details of Soil and Weather,
And set Sky firmly in place,
    I was there.
When he mapped and gave borders to wild Ocean,
    built the vast vault of Heaven,
    and installed the fountains that fed Ocean,
When he drew a boundary for Sea,
    posted a sign that said no trespassing,
And then staked out Earth’s Foundations,
    I was right there with him, making sure everything fit.
Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause,
    always enjoying his company,
Delighted with the world of things and creatures,
    happily celebrating the human family.

For Reflection

Before the light, before creating the waters, before creating the Earth and all manner of life, before creating man and woman, God created wisdom.    Human wisdom is imperfect; limited to a secular, temporal existence.  But, God's wisdom predates human existence.  It is found in the matrix of God's creation.   God's wisdom is the recognition of the rightness of all things. Wisdom is the righteousness of judgment.


Pray

Celebrate the gift of wisdom.  Pray that you will recognize the wisdom in all that you observe and appraise.  Pray that you act with God's wisdom as your companion.

Heavenly Beings Shout for Joy

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Praises God

Job 38:1-11. The Message

God Confronts Job

Have You Gotten to the Bottom of Things?

38 And now, finally, God answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. He said:
2-11 “Why do you confuse the issue?
    Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?
Pull yourself together, Job!
    Up on your feet! Stand tall!
I have some questions for you,
    and I want some straight answers.
Where were you when I created the earth?
    Tell me, since you know so much!
Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!
    Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?
How was its foundation poured,
    and who set the cornerstone,
While the morning stars sang in chorus
    and all the angels shouted praise?
And who took charge of the ocean
    when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,
    and tucked it in safely at night.
Then I made a playpen for it,
    a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,
And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.
    Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’

For Reflection

Poor Job.  He followed all the rules.  Job "knew" he was righteous.  Not only did Job have to endure the physical suffering of the torment, but he also had to suffer the indignities heaped upon him from his friends.  Indignities, which stemmed from their misunderstanding of God.

Then,  to top it off, Job gets ripped by God.  What in heaven's name went wrong?

Following the rules alone is insufficient.  Job filed suit against God! As religious as he was, Job did not abide in God.  Job did not have what others might call unreasonable trust in God.

Pray

Pray so that you may have unreasonable trust in God.  Pray so that you might be able to comprehend God's creation more fully.

Praise the Lord

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Praises God

Psalm 150. The Message

150 1-6 Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship,
    praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power,
    praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet,
    praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance,
    praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,
    praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
    Hallelujah!

For Reflection

God is the source of all that is beautiful.  Acknowledge God's elegance and grace. Praise God in all that you do.  Show your allegiance to the creator of all things.  Praise God.

Pray

Give your life to God in praise and adoration.

God Gives Humanity Its Dignity

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Creator

Psalm 8. New International Version

A psalm of David.

1 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
    and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their[g]feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth

For Reflection

Look closely at the heavens on a clear cool night. Marvel at the glorious display of stars and planets.  Think about what the science of astronomy has added to the understanding of time and space.  Contemplate the Earth and the place that we occupy on it.  Give in to the wonder and mystery of the universe. Accept the mystery of the human mind and know that God will reveal all to us in God's time.  Over generations before us and infinite generations to follow, God, having given us the capacity to question, seek and understand, has, in God's own time, revealed God's self in the glory of God's creation.  In the science of discovery, we find God.

Pray

Thank God for making us in God's image.  Thank God for giving us the power of imagination, of language, of science and of poetry.  Thank God for sharing God's capacity to wonder, to invent and to learn.  Praise God and seek God in all things

Joy and Wishes for Perfect Harmony

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Creator

Psalm 104:31-35. New International Version

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
    and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.

For Reflection

How does one live in harmony with God?  Meditating upon God, studying scriptures, and communing with other believers are necessary, but, no more essential than prayer.  Prayer builds your relationship with God.  In prayer, we fill our souls with the Holy Spirit.

Pray

Pray often and about everything.  Open your soul to the Holy Spirit. Pray so that your life can be centered in God's will.

God Quenches the Thirsty Earth

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Creator

Psalm 104:10-13.  New International Version

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

For Reflection

As the land is satisfied by God's creativity, so shall we be satisfied. God's creation is made to operate in harmony, each element contributing value to the other. We are part of God's creation. We also, exist in harmony with God's creation.   However, God has given us the power to choose to live harmoniously or in dissonance. How are your doing?

Pray

that you will choose to live in harmony with God's creation.  Pray that you will trust in God's will for your life.  Pray that you will live creatively in tune with God's holy melody.

God Sets Boundries on the Earth

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Provider

Psalm 104:5-9. New International Version

5 He set the earth on its foundations;
    it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
    they went down into the valleys,
    to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
    never again will they cover the earth.

For Reflection

Usually, I quote "The Message" because of its use of contemporary language and its point of view.  Occasionally, especially in more poetic sections, something is said in the brevity and imagery in other versions of Bible that cannot be conveyed otherwise.   Read these passages, not for the facts, but for the truths beyond the language.  Let your mind roam over these images and expand the words visually. Listen to the music that the visions suggest. Let your thoughts go beyond reason into the event as a witness. Suspend your preference for the existential. Allow yourself the pleasure of diving into the creative force that is God and accept the mystery.


Pray

Praise God for God's creative power.  Thank God for blessing you with the ability to experience life as life was meant to be, full of wonder and beauty.  Thank God for endowing the universe with the capacity to create.  Pray that you use your creative powers to the glory and honor of God.

Sharing in God's New Community

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Provider

Acts 2:37-47. The Message

37 Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?”
38-39 Peter said, “Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.”
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!”
41-42 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
43-45 Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
46-47 They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

For Reflection

Being part of a community of believers is essential to spiritual growth. Through the community of God worshipers, one reinforces the commitment which was implied in one's baptism.  The church community provides a safe loving environment for learning, confession, and repentance.  In the community of believers, we learn to trust God and to take responsibility for our actions.  In the community of believers, we learn to forgive and love unconditionally. It is the community of believers that beckons the world to worship God and dwell in God's household.

Pray

Pray for the mission of the church universal.   Pray that all people will accept the overture to become God's people.  Pray for all the communities who pray in God's name that they will be true to the word of God.

God's Restoration of All Humanity

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Provider

Isaiah 66:18-23. The Message

18-21 “I know everything they’ve ever done or thought. I’m going to come and then gather everyone—all nations, all languages. They’ll come and see my glory. I’ll set up a station at the center. I’ll send the survivors of judgment all over the world: Spain and Africa, Turkey and Greece, and the far-off islands that have never heard of me, who know nothing of what I’ve done nor who I am. I’ll send them out as missionaries to preach my glory among the nations. They’ll return with all your long-lost brothers and sisters from all over the world. They’ll bring them back and offer them in living worship to God. They’ll bring them on horses and wagons and carts, on mules and camels, straight to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says God. “They’ll present them just as Israelites present their offerings in a ceremonial vessel in the Temple of God. I’ll even take some of them and make them priests and Levites,” says God.
22-23 “For just as the new heavens and new earth
    that I am making will stand firm before me”
        —God’s Decree—
“So will your children
    and your reputation stand firm.
Month after month and week by week,
    everyone will come to worship me,” God says.

For Reflection

What is it about God's word that can call all peoples to inhabit a world full of the wisdom of love?  The world yearns for justice that is not brought by retribution and violence.  The world yearns for justice.  "Justice is love distributed."*

That is God's Glory, God's promise of hope in a collaborative loving relationship with God and with each other.  God's promised blessing is inclusiveness, equity, and commitment to the common good.

Pray

Pray for the reigniting of the common good brought not by the rule of retribution but by the rule of love.


*Bouma, Gary; Jim Burklo; John Dominic Crossan; Margaret Mayman; Paul Alan Laughlin; Nigel Leaves. Why Weren't We Told? (Kindle Locations 1927-1928). Polebridge Press. Kindle Edition. 

Let All People Praise God

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Provider

Isaiah 66:1-5. The Message 

Living Worship to God

66 1-2 God’s Message:
“Heaven’s my throne,
    earth is my footstool.
What sort of house could you build for me?
    What holiday spot reserve for me?
I made all this! I own all this!”
    God’s Decree.
“But there is something I’m looking for:
    a person simple and plain,
    reverently responsive to what I say.
3-4 “Your acts of worship
    are acts of sin:
Your sacrificial slaughter of the ox
    is no different from murdering the neighbor;
Your offerings for worship,
    no different from dumping pig’s blood on the altar;
Your presentation of memorial gifts,
    no different from honoring a no-god idol.
You choose self-serving worship,
    you delight in self-centered worship—disgusting!
Well, I choose to expose your nonsense
    and let you realize your worst fears,
Because when I invited you, you ignored me;
    when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil,
    you chose what I hate.”
5 But listen to what God has to say
    to you who reverently respond to his Word:
“Your own families hate you
    and turn you out because of me.
They taunt you, ‘Let us see God’s glory!
    If God’s so great, why aren’t you happy?’
But they’re the ones
    who are going to end up shamed.”

For Reflection

Has Christianity become a barren collection of routinized formulas and gestures? Can the Church's otherworldly ideals be adapted to a society that worships immediate gratification?

Many are listening to what God has to say.  Many accept the idea that God is good. Many reject the forms and superficial acts of pseudo-righteousness and adopt God's invitation to collaborate with God in God's will for humanity.  Many have sacrificed civil conformity for spiritual grace.  God will bless God's people who follow The Way with justice, mercy, and hope.

Pray

Sing to the God of our salvation.  Pray that you will collaborate in fulfilling God's promise of freedom in the Kingdom of God.

God's Awesome Stabilizing Deeds

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Provider

Psalm 65:5-8. The Message

2-8 We all arrive at your doorstep sooner
    or later, loaded with guilt,
Our sins too much for us—
    but you get rid of them once and for all.
Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest
    at home in your place!
We expect our fill of good things
    in your house, your heavenly manse.
All your salvation wonders
    are on display in your trophy room.
Earth-Tamer, Ocean-Pourer,
    Mountain-Maker, Hill-Dresser,
Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash,
    of mobs in noisy riot—
Far and wide they’ll come to a stop,
    they’ll stare in awe, in wonder.
Dawn and dusk take turns
    calling, “Come and worship.”

For Reflection

As a collection of humans, we fail miserably at creating a just and compassionate community.  Our sins dominate our existence.

When our collective sin gets too much for us to bear we turn to God either for forgiveness or to blame. In our individualistic societies, who does not, from time to time confuse good and evil.

Only a few individual or collection of individuals in our societies can provide reliable models of good moral conduct.  Those who have chosen God's Way and dedicated their lives to filling their souls with the will of God are blessed.  God does wondrous good things.  God cuts through the noisy mobs of self-determination to show us salvation in God-centered living.  God invites to come and worship in word and deed.

Pray

that you will honor God with your words and with your action.  Pray that you will fulfill your holy destiny.  Pray that your life will be lived in the honor of God.

Rejoice During the Festival of Booths

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

Praise God the Provider

Deuteronomy 16:13-15. The Message

13-15 Observe the Feast-of-Booths for seven days when you gather the harvest from your threshing-floor and your wine-vat. Rejoice at your festival: you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, the Levite, the foreigner, and the orphans and widows who live in your neighborhood. Celebrate the Feast to God, your God, for seven days at the place God designates. God, your God, has been blessing you in your harvest and in all your work, so make a day of it—really celebrate!

For Reflection

I guess we could blame Aristotle and the growth of scientific observation not only for monumental improvements in our physical quality of life but also, for our lack of appreciation of metaphysical reality.  We now live in a world which rejects the metaphysical in favor of the existential.  Furthermore, any attempt to blend the two divergent points of view is met with skepticism. We seem to have lost the common knowledge of how to merge the objective truths of science and the subjective truths of spirituality.

As unimaginably mysterious as God is, God is the center of ethical behavior.  To discover how to live well is to look to God for justice, forgiveness, compassion, and hope.  God is the source of the regeneration of the spirit, the essence of what it means to be human.

So, celebrate with God.  Rejoice in the creation of which we are a part.  Humanity is blessed with the ability to approach life by discovering more and more about our physical world and to discover more and more about preserving our humanity through explorations with God.


Pray

Rejoice in God who has made you in God's own image.  Celebrate the blessings of imagination, and reason.   Pray so that you can center your life in the will of God.

Singing Around the Throne

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Overflows With Praise

Revelation 5:11-14. The Message

11-14 I looked again. I heard a company of Angels around the Throne, the Animals, and the Elders—ten thousand times ten thousand their number, thousand after thousand after thousand in full song:
The slain Lamb is worthy!
Take the power, the wealth, the wisdom, the strength!
Take the honor, the glory, the blessing!
Then I heard every creature in Heaven and earth, in underworld and sea, join in, all voices in all places, singing:
To the One on the Throne! To the Lamb!
The blessing, the honor, the glory, the strength,
For age after age after age.
The Four Animals called out, “Oh, Yes!” The Elders fell to their knees and worshiped.

For Reflection

We live for the day the underworld sings!  We live for the day that each of us will become all that God has intended for us to become. Revelation,  the book of unrealized potential, the book of hope, beckons us to resolve our human fears and squabbles and celebrate our differences so that we may contribute our uniquenesses to the common good.


Pray

Celebrate your soul!  Thank God for our differences.  Pray prayers of praise and thanksgiving for the blessings of humanity.

Sing Praises, O Gentiles

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Overflows With Praise

Romans 15:7-13. The Message

7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah’s word:
There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

For Reflection

To know God and not to participate in God's intention for God's people is to not know God at all! God, in this sense, God is more of an acquaintance, or perhaps, just another character in the neighborhood.  If one truly knows God, one will act like it.  If one knows God, one will be more Christ like.  If one knows God, others will recognize one's goodness.  If one knows God, one's soul is filled with the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit.  If one knows God, righteousness will be written across one's forehead for all to see.

Pray

that you will walk in praise of God.  Pray that you will walk with the joy of God in your soul.  Pray that you will be a beacon of God's trust and hope for others.

Salvation Is for All Peoples

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Overflows With Praise

Isaiah 49:1-7. The Message 

A Light for the Nations

49 1-3 Listen, far-flung islands,
    pay attention, faraway people:
God put me to work from the day I was born.
    The moment I entered the world he named me.
He gave me speech that would cut and penetrate.
    He kept his hand on me to protect me.
He made me his straight arrow
    and hid me in his quiver.
He said to me, “You’re my dear servant,
    Israel, through whom I’ll shine.”
4 But I said, “I’ve worked for nothing.
    I’ve nothing to show for a life of hard work.
Nevertheless, I’ll let God have the last word.
    I’ll let him pronounce his verdict.”
5-6 “And now,” God says,
    this God who took me in hand
    from the moment of birth to be his servant,
To bring Jacob back home to him,
    to set a reunion for Israel—
What an honor for me in God’s eyes!
    That God should be my strength!
He says, “But that’s not a big enough job for my servant—
    just to recover the tribes of Jacob,
    merely to round up the strays of Israel.
I’m setting you up as a light for the nations
    so that my salvation becomes global!”
7 God, Redeemer of Israel, The Holy of Israel,
    says to the despised one, kicked around by the nations,
    slave labor to the ruling class:
“Kings will see, get to their feet—the princes, too—
    and then fall on their faces in homage
Because of God, who has faithfully kept his word,
    The Holy of Israel, who has chosen you.”

For Reflection

Israel is still God's chosen people.  God will never abandon them just as God will never abandon anyone who accepts God's sovereignty. Jew and Gentile alike are among the family of God.  Love God and follow Christ.

Pray

Praise God from whom all salvation flows. Give thanks for God's grace. Give thanks to God for the freedom to choose to love God.  Pray for courage to face the world as an authentic shepherd of God's people.

Justice Will Be Established

Creation: A Divine Cycle
Praise from and for God's Creation

All Creation Overflows With Praise

Isaiah 42:1-4. The Message

God’s Servant Will Set Everything Right

42 1-4 “Take a good look at my servant.
    I’m backing him to the hilt.
He’s the one I chose,
    and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
    He’ll set everything right among the nations.
He won’t call attention to what he does
    with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt
    and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,
    but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped
    until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
    wait expectantly for his teaching.”

For Reflection

There is little doubt that Isiah is speaking about expectations of a Messiah, Jesus. It is a description of God's endorsement of Christ.  Moreover, Isaiah is leading us toward an interpretation of a very different leader.  The Messiah is to be understood as compassionate, responsive to the least considered among us, humble not proud, and one who will abide with us, never forsaking his mission or God's promise.

So, take a hard look at God's servant.  Examine his works and his words.  In them, you will find God's spirit, God's life.

Pray

that you will find in Christ the hope for all humankind.  Pray that you will become a disciple of Jesus, the Christ, following his teachings, learning his way, and becoming his collaborator.