A Faithful God iv

•March 19, 2014 • Leave a Comment

(No, I have not lost the plot, well ok, but not in putting this Advent/Christmas reading here in Lent anyway, March 19th is apparently Saint Joseph’s Day.  It also illustrates beautifully the faithfulness of God)

Matthew 1:18-25 (CEV)

The Birth of Jesus

18 This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David’s family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God’s Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.

20 While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. 21 Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 So the Lord’s promise came true, just as the prophet had said, 23 “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

24 After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord’s angel had told him to do. 25 But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.

God is with us,
God is with me.

In my confusion,
my wondering,
my questioning,
my doubting,
my disappointment.
In my certainty
of what to do,
and my realisation
that is not the right way.

God is here,
within
and around.

God is here
however I am feeling.
He is holding,
guiding,
reassuring,
pointing me
his way.

God is with me.
God is with us.

What a faithful God!

Faithful One

Posted in bible, faith, God, Jesus, Lectionary, lent, Religion, theology
Tags: , , ,

A Faithful God iii

•March 18, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Isaiah 1:16-20 (CEV)

16 Wash yourselves clean!
I am disgusted
    with your filthy deeds.
Stop doing wrong
17     and learn to live right.
See that justice is done.
Defend widows and orphans
    and help those in need.”

An Invitation from the Lord

18 I, the Lord, invite you
    to come and talk it over.
Your sins are scarlet red,
but they will be whiter
    than snow or wool.
19 If you willingly obey me,
the best crops in the land
    will be yours.
20 But if you turn against me,
your enemies will kill you.
    I, the Lord, have spoken.

An invitation?
For me?
You want me to come
and be with you?
To be in your presence?

But I’m still learning,
still washing,
well
scrubbing actually.
Some of the stains are deep,
ingrained,
well rubbed in.

But I long to come,
to answer your call,
to talk things over with you;
because you
and you alone understand.
You
and you alone
can help,
to remove these stains.

The strongest soap,
the toughest bleach
cannot reach the parts of me
that need to be cleansed;
yet you are the one
who can restore
the very fabric
of my heart
and soul
to what it should be,
what you created it
to be.

And so I respond
to your invitation.
Here I am.
show me
where the stains are,
what they are from
and remove them.
Strengthen me
to not
immediately replace them,
for I long
to live your ways.

Thank you
for being faithful to me,
may I be faithful to you.

Faithful One

Posted in bible, faith, God, Lectionary, lent, Religion, theology
Tags: , , , ,

A Faithful God ii

•March 17, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Daniel 9:4-10 (CEV)

3-4 Then, to show my sorrow, I went without eating and dressed in sackcloth and sat in ashes. I confessed my sins and earnestly prayed to the Lord my God:

Our Lord, you are a great and fearsome God, and you faithfully keep your agreement with those who love and obey you. 5 But we have sinned terribly by rebelling against you and rejecting your laws and teachings. 6 We have ignored the message your servants the prophets spoke to our kings, our leaders, our ancestors, and everyone else.

7 Everything you do is right, our Lord. But still we suffer public disgrace because we have been unfaithful and have sinned against you. This includes all of us, both far and near—the people of Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel, as well as those you dragged away to foreign lands, 8 and even our kings, our officials, and our ancestors. 9 Lord God, you are merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against you 10 and rejected your teachings that came to us from your servants the prophets.

In sackcloth and ashes
looking at my life,
seeing where I have given in to temptation,
wandered from your ways,
ignored what you have said to me.
Coming
to you
my God,
my Lord.

Yet,
I also hear your word
of forgiveness
and begin to understand
the depth of your faithfulness
to me,
to us all.

You are just
and fair,
but you are faithful to me;
you love
and go on loving.
I have done wrong,
but you do right by me,
your generosity
knows no bounds.

So,
as I confess,
you receive,
you accept,
you take me back,
together we start again.
You don’t ask who I am,
or turn from me,
but
true to your word,
more loyal than I deserve,
you stick with me.

May I live,
strengthened,
in
and through
your faithfulness.

Faithful God

Posted in bible, faith, forgiveness, God, hope, Lectionary, lent, Religion, theology
Tags: , , ,

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »