Lectionary readings: Isaiah 62:6-12 and Luke 2:8-20
Our readings this morning resound with angels and
humans praising God.
As we gather around the Lord’s table, to share bread
and wine, we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah that no enemies shall eat the
bread and no foreigners shall drink the wine. For in Christ all creation comes
home to God: there are no enemies; there are no foreigners: we are one people,
one family, one body. And in a world full of fear, that drives us to ‘other’
one another, to ‘Us and Them’ ourselves, to view the stranger with suspicion,
this is miracle.
Isaiah’s word to us this morning culminates with these
words:
‘You shall be called Sought
Out, A City Not Forsaken.’
Look around. ‘You shall be called Sought Out, A City
Not Forsaken.’ What does that look like? If God has anything to do with it, if
God is at work here, it probably won’t look anything like our assumptions. But
it might look like welcoming the stranger, it might look like people who have
felt forsaken—by their neighbours, by the families, perhaps even by God—finding
a home. Finding room at the table. Finding their lives being built up, given
back to them; different to what was lost, but beautiful in the light of this
new Day.
Like Mary, may we treasure these words, and ponder
them in the days and weeks and months and years ahead. Like Mary, may we be
open to what it is that God wants to do in us and for us and through us, united
in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment