Devotional Thought of the Day:
²⁰  “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. ²¹  The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the LORD to bless us. Let’s worship the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ ²²  Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing. ²³  “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” Zechariah 8:20-23 (NLT)

186         People from different countries, different races, and very different backgrounds and professions… When you speak to them about God, you become aware of the human and supernatural value of your vocation as an apostle. It is as if you are reliving, in its total reality, the miracle of the first preaching of Our Lord’s disciples. Phrases spoken in a strange tongue, which open up new ways, have been heard by each one, in the depth of his heart in his own language. And in your mind you can see that scene taking on a new life, in which “Parthians, Medes and Elamites” have come joyfully to God.

Sunday at my church we will celebrate the old feast of All Saints.

It is also the day that both congregations that are our church gather as the church.  One people, One service, Two languages, (and many, many more represented!)People from five continents ( can anyone bring an Antarcian and an Australian?)  It takes a little more to plan the worship, my sermon has to be translated, and we gather the most incredible food from all sorts of cultures.

There are days I feel like Peter at Pentecost, looking out on such a crowd.  Other times, the Old Testament prophecies like the one above in red, the scenes described fulfilled in the Revelation to St John, are made manifest.  God is with us; He has gathered us, so diverse, and yet to united in and by the blood of Christ Jesus. The same Lord that gave the vision to Zechariah and St. John is the same God who descended upon the apostles, and works through His people today.

It is truly amazing, overwhelming, beyond belief.

God has brought us all here… to celebrate His work in us,  To celebrate being made part of our family

It is a beautiful foretaste of what is too come – and it creates a desire to complete the work, too see people from every time in history, from every place where the sun has shined, from every Langauge and clan!  It is a foretaste of the healing of the nations talked about that will occur when God brings us together, and we glorify and praise and honor Him for what He has done.  It also puts perspective to this life for us… that we are really one, not divided by race or nationality or ethnicity or language, but one because of the blood of Christ, cleansing us all.

Bringing peace to all, bringing sustenance to all..

This is our hope, our expectation, because of the love of God.  The love of God for us…

AMEN!

Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 991-996). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.