Monthly Archives: January 2025
From Glorious Light to Glorious Light: God’s Law is Glorious! A Sermon on Nehemiah 8
God’s Law Is Glorious!
Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace and mercy of God our Father and the Lord Jesus create in you a hunger to discover the treasure that is our scriptures- which reveal God’s love for us!
Read Wha???
The experts tell us that the average attention span of an American has been shrinking for decades. I remember reading how that affected advertising, especially on Television and Radio, and how they moved commercial breaks from every fifteen minutes to every 7 and ½. And the commercials themselves shrunk – from 2 minutes to 30 seconds.
SO as I was preparing this sermon, I looked it up—and according to one recent APA study, the attention span is now….
8.25 seconds.
So imagine what would happen if we had a day like Nehemiah, where the elders and I read, and explained, the first five books of the Bible… in one setting?
80,000 words, plus or minus 500 depending on translation.
That is roughly 80-85 times the length of one of my sermons… not counting all the explanations they had to offer. That’s at least 20 hours – perhaps 30 hours. Even three into, the people where still excited, even the point of chanting or cheering AMEN!
3 hours – a quick break and back into it, and then Nehemiah tells us,
When they saw him open the book, they all rose to their feet.
6 Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Should we do this today?
Deacon Bob, grab one of those Bibles there… let’s go!
Oh wait, you all thought worship was only seventy-five minutes or so?
Moving from Amen to Mourning?
They were so excited to hear of the story of God and His people! To hear the promises that were made for the redemption of all of mankind from the very first days as they were led from the Garden.
But things change… and they did that afternoon. For as the books are read, the people’s demeanor changed. Here is how that is described,
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them, “Don’t mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God.” For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
What could make them go from a million plus people chanting Amen! Amen! weeping to that same group of men, women and children weeping? What did they hear? What could flatten the emotions of a million people at once?
It had to be bad news, something that would shock them, something that would raise anxieties, that would raise fears, that would show them that they could lose something that they should be treasuring.
They began to realize that all the suffering of the people of God was because of their own actions.
You see, the relationship between God and mankind is kind of simple – there are things theologians call the “promises”, the things God swears He will do for His people. The other part is often called the “terms”, which something equates to the obligations we have,
It is made more condemning when we hear that the parts of the covenant are the parties, the terms and the promises – as if the terms must be met prior to receiving any of the promises.
I can see them going – we do all the same things that got our ancestors in trouble… we’ve been doing. They wanted what their neighbor had, we aren’t satisfied with what we have, and want others humbled to our level. They gossiped, yeah we do that too! We may not steal, but we want deals that always favor us, even if it means others don’t.
I could run through the rest of the commandments, and what was done in Moses’s and here in Nehemiah’s time, let’s be honest, exist today outside the church, and sadly to say, inside the church.
As they hear the consequences of sin that are prophesied in the Books of the Law are read, those consequences and fear, guilt, shame and it all overwhlems them, as it should.
This Isn’t About Mourning… it’s a celebration!
Earlier in the children’s message, I brought up the idea that we need to hear the entire message, They heard the first tule, but no one bothered to ask about the second rule. It is the same thing here, listen to all the Nehemiah said,
“Don’t mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God.” For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10 And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
People make two large errors when it comes to scripture and especially the Old Testament. And that is because they don’t understand God, and God’s strongest desire—the desire that drove God to create in the first place.
The first is that the people didn’t keep listening to the solution God promised to provide to take care of our brokenness, to heal those damaged by sin and the guilt and shame and anxiety it
The second is that the terms precede the promises – and that God won’t be faithful to what He promised unless we deserve it. That is completely wrong -we don’t come to God perfect and holy, having fulfilled the law completely before He will bless us – the blessing is He invites us to come to Him, and His promise is to recreate us in His image!
The ”terms” then are the results of the changes God has made in us, the very picture of Christ that is reflected in our lives. It is the effect of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the Spirit of God living in us.
That is why Nehemiah and Ezra say, “it’s time to party, to celebrate this sacred day, when we realize what God promised to do – for God’s joy- His desire to save usis the very strength that dwells within us—and has, since the day of our baptism, the strength nourished as we commune, and take His body and blood to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper. The very thing we confess we depend on when I say, “the Lord is with you!” AMEN!
Do They Know His Attitude Towards Them?
Thoughts on the One, Holy, catholic and Apostolic Church.
These three articles of the Creed, therefore, separate and distinguish us Christians from all other people on earth. All who are outside this Christian people, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites—even though they believe in and worship only the one, true God—nevertheless do not know what his attitude is toward them. They cannot be confident of his love and blessing, and therefore they remain in eternal wrath and condemnation. For they do not have the Lord Christ, and, besides, they are not illuminated and blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.[1]
But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ’s body, and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.[2]
It follows that the separated Churches and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church.[3]
The irony was not lost on me, within an hour of having breakfast and a great discussion on our faith and the Lord’s Supper with a very devout Catholic Priest who I’ve known for a decade, and a Nazarene pastor who I met that morning, I was called a heretic by a catholic apologist on social media, and a similar label by another self-appointed theologian who claimed to be a confessional Lutheran.
In some very important ways, I am separated in my doctrine and practice from three of the four people. Serious divisions, one that would necessitate great care, especially when it comes to the sacraments, and how we see grace applied to our people.
But the first two, I would not hesitate to say are my brothers in Christ, nor would they hesitate to return that identification. We share something more important than doctrine, we share a dependence on Christ and the work He has promised to do in our lives. I see that faith, and realize that Vatican II has a point – none of of us are deprived of the justification by faith in Christ’s work–applied in Baptism. That is the same concern as Luther – to know we can depend on Jesus
Luther seems to agree–for he acknowledges the difference between an attempt to worship God, and knowing God’s attitude toward us. I am sure my two brothers know this! I have heard one preach, and talking to the other, I am sure that is part of his message as well. That dependence on Jesus sees them moved from the ranks for false Christians, Heathens, Turks etc. That doesn’t blind me (or them) to the significant difference in how we see Jesus working, or how we should respond to it.
And there is the core of the position – salvation not based on the sign in front of the church, but on the Lord we cry out to, confidently, to have mercy on us.
[1] Martin Luther, “The Large Catechism” Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord: the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (p. 440). Fortress Press.
[2] Catholic Church. (2011). Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio. In Vatican II Documents. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
[3] Catholic Church. (2011). Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio. In Vatican II Documents. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
I Don’t Care Which Side You Hate or Adore…are Afraid of or Have Faith in, you need this!
Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the Cross…
“Do not fret when wicked men seem to succeed! Do not envy evildoers! For they will quickly dry up like grass, and wither away like plants. Trust in the LORD and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! Then you will take delight in the LORD, and he will answer your prayers. Commit your future to the LORD! Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf. He will vindicate you in broad daylight, and publicly defend your just cause. Wait patiently for the LORD! Wait confidently for him! Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, a man who carries out wicked schemes!” (Psalm 37:1–7, NET)
I will confess to being very depressed this morning.
I should have known better, as I picked up my phone and checked my FB, and Twitter feeds, I grew angry and depressed and I grieve. I still do, even as I write this.
People i know and people I love, whose political views are all over the map, spewing hatred and anger that is unrestrained as a East Coast Hurricane or a California fire. Church leaders, both ordained and lay leaders, believing and pushing double standards from both sides of the political spectrum. People who are intelligent, compassionate and giving, now tearing at others throats as if they are pre-teens deserted on an island in The Lord of the Flies.
The accompanying commentary so vile, so violent–on both sides–that I cannot even appreciate the numerous examples of the pot calling the kettle black. One of my favorite pastimes was showing people how the standard they judge one by, condemns the one they favor as well! Even if doing so means I will be attacked and mocked…
I finally dragged myself to my devotional reading… Ishould have started there! The Psalm above encountered early in the readings, and some incredible things from Luther and Ratzinger about the Liturgy, about the treasure that is the Lord’s Supper, passages I would normally rejoice in, fell flat.
I went back several times to this Psalm, and it tempered my earlier desire to give up social media and all contact with the people whose posts are so toxic to themselves, our communities and our nation and world. But how in the world do I convince this world to give up on the hatred, to fulfill the call to peace that this day was also dedicated to, How do I speak peace to a world that is so divided. so willing to believe their sides version of propaganda, so unwilling to reconcile and see relationships redeemed and restored.
That is a depressing thought as well, for even though there is always a remnant, we seem so weak, so inept, so lacking in the charisma or influence to really make a difference!
The Psalm reminds me what I need to knwo, what I hope is communicated… there is a time to take all our anxiety, all our fear, all our pain and set it aside, and look and find rest in the God who would die for me. That their one the cross He died for the sins of very follower of Biden and Trump.
It is not that He will still act on our behalf – vindicating us, anymore.
He has done so, on the cross, it has been finished for a long time. We can find our peace in Him – we can only find our peace in Him. Only He is righteous – all others are broken sinners. Only Jesus is our hope – and no one can steal that from us. (Romans 8:28-38)
So please, find your rest in Jesus, find your hope there… and do not go to war against those you think are your enemies, Find in Jesus the strength to love them, pray for them, and then, be still and know that Jesus is God.
From Glorious Light to Glorious Light: The Best is Now–The Glorious Light Revealed! John 2:1-11
From Glorious Light to Glorious Light
The Best is Now:
The Glorious Light Revealed!
John 2:1-11
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ help you realize the great miracle that was revealed at Cana!
- What a party!
Growing up in an Italian/Irish family, you learn to appreciate a good wedding reception. And the one in the gospel must have been a massive one. How do I know>
Once they ran out of wine, towards the end of the celebration, they still needed 120-180 more gallons of wine. Now I don’t know about you – but that seems like a lot of wine?
If it doesn’t, come talk to me!
It also must have been pretty significant, as not only were Mary and Jesus invited, but so where Jesus’ disciples – which was at least 14 men, and 4-5 women that travelled in their company. Considering this is before the formal ministry of miracles and teaching began – they probably weren’t the VIP’s of the event…
What a party…
But the words that seem key, are those of the master of ceremonies, who didn’t realize how true they were…
“you have kept the best till now…”
But boy was the best going to be revealed that day- as the glory of God was first seen in Christ Jesus….
And it wasn’t just the wine….
- It’s not just about the wine!
Most people are a little shocked when they hear Jesus reaction to Mary when she asks him for help. “Not our problem!” is how our translation phrases it! The original language is a little more blunt than that – “It’s nothing to me!”
And if the refusal wasn’t understood – Jesus goes on to say, “My time has not yet come!”
After all, he’s just a guest, not even an honored guest.
It’s not his wine, it’s not His wedding, it’s not His responsibility, and it’s not time to have the great mysteries of our faith to be revealed.
Of course that’s how I would have said it, my attitude read into it, with a healthy sense of cynicism. We read it into Mary, who expects Jesus to just fix stuff, as if God is some kind of Genie in a Bottle, there to fix our problems, we want to read it into Jesus’ whose words seem disrespectful to His mom, whom even He is supposed to honor. We might even want to blame the master of ceremonies or the groom’s family, for not providing for the feast better.
Sometimes, our sin in thought, word and deed shatters the 8th commandment—as we don’t come up with the best explanation, but we base it on our own experience, and our own sin. So it seems impossible for there to be a reasonable explanation, and we bear false witness, we hold onto the falsehood.
And whether we tell others about it or not, the idea sticks with us.
And we miss what is better, as we whine…instead of tasting the better wine… we miss the best that is saved for last.
- Deeper-Better (Eucharist)
It seems appropriate that the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry, and the last both are at a party, and include the drinking of wine.
If the water turned to wine was considered the best, the wine that is the Blood of Christ, served at the last Supper and ever since, is even better. It is here, at the altar, as we receive the Body and the Blood that something better happens, we are invited to feast with God, as His invitation where He is the master of ceremonies and the feast…
The one miracle is a picture of the other, God providing the wine, the best wine, which erases our shortcomings, our sin.
- Deepest (best)
Even as the drink at the first feast pictures the second, so does this wedding pictures another.
The wedding pointed out in the first reading, in the incredible words of the prophet Isaiah:
The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the LORD’s own mouth. 3 The LORD will hold you in his hand for all to see— a splendid crown in the hand of God. 4 Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride.
In yesterday’s devotion I used the grins of a couple guys on their wedding day to try and picture God. Partially because their wives were part of the study, but also when I’ve mentioned their wedding day before, the grin they had then, returns to their faces, and they can’t say a word, they just nod.
We need to realize that Jesus sees us, His church, that way!
He ensures we are at our best, our most perfect, that is what Isaiah says, and the Apostle Paul repeats it,
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. Ephesians 5:25-27 (NLT2)
It wasn’t Jesus time, it wasn’t the wine He came to provide, it wasn’t the wedding He came to be part of…
That wine would be shared at Last Supper, and on altars all around the world. That wedding is the one still to come, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, The wedding that He would prepare us for, make us Holy, washing us, and cleansing us because His blood was spilt.
His time has come, the best wine is ready and our Lord is ours and we are His…and He delights in us.
As He ensures we will be ready, guarding our hearts and minds, even as we dwell in His perfect peace! AMEN!
Chosen for What? The Call to Shepherd God’s People! But where?
Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross.
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? 3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. 5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. Ezekiel 34:2-5 (NLT2)
Therefore, holiness involves pastoral ministry. When the substance of the liturgy becomes the substance of the soul of the pastor, then his ministry will become a pastoral anointing of the Mysteries of Christ that he is ordained to apply to souls. The liturgy is the sacramental moment of mysteries, but those mysteries are not confined to the moment. The reason we receive them in the sacraments is in order that they might come to life in us, quicken us, perfect us on our journey to our final end.
So too with Christ: although he is everywhere present, he does not permit himself to be so caught and grasped; he can easily shell himself, so that you get the shell but not the kernel. Why? Because it is one thing if God is present, and another if God is present for you. God is there for you when God adds the Word and binds himself, saying, “Here you shall find me.” Now when you have the Word, you can grasp and have God with certainty and say, “Here I have you, as you have said.”
I have had the blessing of having breakfast twice this week with other pastors.
The first time, with a Roman Catholic Priest friend and a Nazarene pastor, who I anticipate will become a friend. We are all roughly the same age, with the similar sense of the ironic and a passion to help people see Jesus. And, though we differ in our understanding of the Sacrament, there was a definite tie into to each of our ministries, as we adminster this gifft to our people, and yet long for the day when all the Body of Christ will share together in it.
Come to today, and the devotional readings, a sample of which you see above–which deal with this sacrament as well, and with how it is the responsibility of the pastor – perhaps the primary responsibility of the pastor, to ensure we are feeding out sheep, that we are getting them what they need–Jesus.
It is our ministry to point them to Jesus, where He said He would be for them. That is what they hear in the words of “for you” and where they need to be encouraged to believe them. These are just words we repeat because of their poetic nature. They are the words of Christ, placed there as a guarantee of His presence, of His work in their lives. Not a matter of some kind of magic, but because of the promise of Christ Jesus.
It is, as the other quote says, the “mystery of Christ–applied to their souls.” and that application is what we are ordained to do. To welcome the broken, to apply the sacraments, to allow the Spirit to reveal Christ–as promised for them there in that moment.
For He has promised to meet them there, as they share in His Body and Blood, as it nourishes and strengthens their faith–again as promised. As we remember He abides in us, and we in Him. That is what this sweet, powerful, healing time is, and we need to lead them there, to Him.
That is the role of a shepherd, to bring His people there. Even if that means dragging them there some of the time. That is what it means to lead His church. To guide them to the peace of Christ, found where He meets them, and unites with them, as promised.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 57). Emmaus Academic.
Burnett, A. N. (1527). That These Words of Christ, “This Is My Body,” Etc., Still Stand Firm against the Fanatics. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, pp. 213–214). Fortress Press.
Communing with others, is natural for those Communing with God.
Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the Cross
“Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the atonement lid that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim. Thus he spoke to him.” (Numbers 7:89, NET)
“So while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that all these things are about to take place?” Jesus began to say to them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will mislead many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. These are but the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:3–8, NET)
The graces received should also make us love as Christ loved, love with Christ’s power, which is why John Chrysostom says nothing is better suited to prolonging the effects of the Eucharist than a visit paid to Christ in his little ones. The poor standing in the public square remind Chrysostom of the majesty of an altar made ready for sacrifice. The poor are an altar on which we can make our sacrifice of almsgiving, so he compares them to the stone altar in the Church by saying they are the living altar.
As the fires burn in Southern California – out of the woodwork comes the seeds of division and chaos. Many are playing the blame game, looking at the past to gain an advantage for their position. Others are saying this is the judgment of the gods on us, or of God himself. The noise is overwhelming, drowning out the cries of people in their 80s and 90s whose material lives are gone, except maybe for a carload of materials.
Some are using this opportunity as well, to present their “gospel”, some are truly preaching Christ, some have skewed messages, some of both are sincere and some are just schemers. Again, the messages are loud, especially of those who would lead people away from Jesus. Mark’s gospel is abundantly clear, these people exist, and we need to be aware of it, even as trauma exists, as it did with the destruction of Jerusalem.
The voice we need to hear instead is the One we meet at the altar, much as Moses met with God between the cherubim, so we do meet Him between the candles on the altar, as we receive His precious Body and Blood that He gives us, as He communes with us, and communicates with us.
Chrysostom notes the extension of that communion into the community, into the lives of those “little ones”, those poor in many ways. whether economically or poor in Spirit – those broken by the world. As Jesus hears us, we learn to hear them, imitating our Lord and the nature of His self-sacrifice. (See Phil. 2), What becomes important is not the division, not the gaining of supremacy for our views, our likes, our desires, our agendas, rather what is important is life- the lives of people.
The church leads through service, our “titles” are all service oriented–they are all geared to taking care of people – as our Lord and Savior did and does. Which brings us back to Moses, and meeting God where He set apart, where we commune with Him.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 53). Emmaus Academic.
FROM GLORIOUS LIGHT TO GLORIOUS LIGHT: The Light is On, and So We Come Home!! An Epiphany Sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6
FROM GLORIOUS LIGHT TO GLORIOUS LIGHT
The Light is On,
and So We Come Home!!
Isaiah 60:1-6
† In Jesus’s Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ convince you it is time to come home, and to bring your friends home with you!
- Introduction – Street lights…
Those were the days, when parents told their kids to “go outside and play” and outside had a 3 to 5 mile limit. Or at least it did in New Hampshire. Or maybe in Massachusetts it was an area several city blocks in dimension – maybe a quare mile or so.
Needless to say, whether there you were in the city, or in a town, there was one rule…
When the streetlights came on, you should be home!
Of course, we interpreted that to mean – when they came on, we had to start home! Where we would hear the rule again! When that streetlight comes on, you need to be at home!
There was the problem that on Brookdale Road that I lived on – there were only 5 street lights in 4.3 miles of road, and one of them was right across the street from our house!
But front lights and street lights growing up meant someone was home, and you would be welcome. You fell on your bike, riding in near darkness – was the Stober’s light on? The Zahn’s? the Jacksons? Or the Breen’s. If the light was on, they were home and guests—including injured kids—were welome.
- In Isaiah todey, the basic message is,
God is shinging the light of Christ on His people, letting others know it’s time, and it is okay, to come home.
The Absence of Light….
There are a bunch of cute stories going around, where a professor, or a junior teacher makes a comment about the existense of God and one of their students has to teah them a thing or two.
The basic premise of the teacher is that God can’t exist, because of negative things. If there was a God, we would only have good, and evil couldn’t exist. We would only have good health, and illness, heart problems and cancer wouldn’t exist. There would only be light, and darkness wouldn’t exist. His point was the the existence of evil, of illness, of darkness, and injustice wouldn’t exist.
The student, having thought through the words, asked to respond. Politely, she explained that those things he didn’t want to exist, only are known because they are the conseequences of removing what is good.
Evil doesn’t it exist on its own, it is simply is how we describe the lack of good. Illness is simply a term to describe the absence of health. Injustice is what happens where there is no justice. And of course, darkess is how we describe the absence of light.
For the people of God at the time of Israel, there was lacking a lot. The people of God were going into, or were already taken into captivity, their freedoms given away as they pursued sins, sins common to our society today.
You could start with the way they dealt with the widows and orphans and foreigners in their midst. You could move onto their lack of ethics and sexual morals, and in gossip and slaner. And most of all, the people of Judah and Israel were caught up in idolatry, the sin God warned about over and over in the first five books, as man created gods in their own likesness, who they asked to meet their desires.
In other words, the darkness that surrounded them was often the darkness they chose—the consequences of the sins they chose….
And in our day and age, the sins are much the same. We still struggle with dealing with those who have less, we still have trouble with ethics in business and life, and in following God’s plan for sexual morality. Gossip and slander abound, especialy as we try to find scapegoats for things that hurt us and those we love. And we create our own idols—things we count on when life is updside down.
Hear the description of their days, “”Darkness as black as night covers ALL the nations of the earth….
but….”
- They come to worhsip the Lord – because Christ shined..
but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance. “Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home. Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy,
What a big but.. hmmm – what an enormously different direction the scriptures twist, as thy aniticipate the one who would be recognzied when “Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. And…”The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the Lord.”
This prophecy is part of why we call the visitation of the Magi, the Wise Men, Epiphany. Days after the birth of Jesus, Isaiah’s prophecy aabout people who weren’t the people of God coming to worship Him—something that has been happening every since, and even more since the resurrection and ascension.
The light has come, and all are welcome to come home!
Look at the joy Isaiah speaks of! The kind of joy where your eyes twinkle and sparkle with joy. Picture the joy of grandparents, seeing their grandchildren for the first time as babies.
What a glorious moment! What a trememdously incredible moment, to see people come to God, to come home, because they saw the light of Christ.
We reflect that glory, that light of Christ which shatters our darkness, sometimes even on a daily basis…
And that reflection, as we realize the glory of the Lord, as we realize that love of God, results in even more coming Home…to the Father, through Jesus.
To confidently celebrate in the glorious prsence of our Lord…the presence where we find His peace – that passes all understanding, as our hearts nad minds-for we dwell in Christ. AMEN!
God will not forget….and why that is good!!!
Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross…
“In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’ ”” (Leviticus 26:44–45, NET)
581 How humbly and simply the evangelists relate incidents that show up the weak and wavering faith of the Apostles! This is to keep you and me from giving up the hope of some day achieving the strong and unshakeable faith that those same Apostle s had later.
They were the chosen ones, the holy nation of Israel, and yet they turned their back on God and all He provided for them! They worshipped false gods, ones that promised wealth, power, sexual satisfaction–they chose the brokenness of idolatry, and all its false promises.
They are taken into bondage, the direct cause of their sin, and one would imaging God would write them off, and leave them to deal with the consequences of their actions, telling them that He and all the prophets “told you so!”
Leviticus, of all books, the book written as a manual for priests, tells of a God who is not like that, this is the God that doesn’t forget His promises, Hlove and devotion to His family, His people. This book designed to ensure doctrinal integrity and proper worship gives a picture of loyalty and faithfulness to a promise to them. As it refers to the rescue from Egypt it infers that God will rescue them from their captivity, again.
As He will rescue the Apostles,
and us.
That is the reason we see Thomas’ doubt, and James and John’s competitive temper, and Peter’s rash, unfiltered nature. It’s the reason Paul will share his despair in Romans 7, and His inability to deal with physical limitations in his letter to the holy, broken-yet-healing people in Corinth.
SO we will know this part of the nature of God, the one who desires to be our God, our Protector and Healer. So we will begin to understand wonderful words like mercy, grace, redemption, restoration…
SO we will know hope and that our faith will be based in the faithfulness of our Lord.
The one who remember us, and went to the cross… for us…
Rejoice my friends, and find rest in the promises
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Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (p. 124). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
