God is Pleased With You

•January 14, 2013 • 3 Comments

Alexander P Kapp [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

We all have times when we feel that we are stumbling around in the dark and question what is happening.  Where is God and what on earth is he doing.  When we can see no light at the end of the tunnel and despair…

This passage comes from the third section of Isaiah, and is addressed to those who are back in Jerusalem after being in exile in Babylon.  While they were there, they were crushed and without any hope of getting home – believing God had abandoned them.  Now they are back in Jerusalem, they need reassurance that God is going to fulfil his promises to them.  That is what we have here:

Jerusalem Will Be Saved

62 Jerusalem, I will speak up
for your good.
I will never be silent
till you are safe and secure,
sparkling like a flame.
2 Your great victory will be seen
by every nation and king;
the Lord will even give you
a new name.
3 You will be a glorious crown,
a royal headband,
for the Lord your God.

4 Your name will no longer be
“Deserted and Childless,”
but “Happily Married.”
You will please the Lord;
your country
will be his bride.
5 Your people will take the land,
just as a young man
takes a bride.
The Lord will be pleased
because of you,
just as a husband is pleased
with his bride.

How are you feeling today?  Like you are in Exile?  Like you are in a familiar place, but somehow everything has changed?  Like you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel?  Do you need to hear that God is on your side and will keep his promises to you?

Then soak up these words of God to you today.

However bad things have been, however dark the way, however downtrodden you feel, God meets you with a new name, a new start, and a beautiful crown, because

God is pleased with you.

However it feels from external circumstances, that is true.  God delights in you, he isn’t looking to see you destroyed, but honoured and loved.

Hear him today, say that to you again.

Thank you Lord,

for the depth of your love to me.

That when the dark tunnel seems unending,

when I feel alone,

afraid,

disorientated,

abandoned

– may I remember your promise to me.

Thank you that even in the darkness,

you are pleased with me,

call to me

and welcome me.

Today,

may I hear your word

of love,

comfort and help;

may I feel you reaching out to me,

allow you to wrap me in your arms,

and know your peace, hope and love

Posted in bible, faith, God, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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In Case You Were Wondering…

•January 10, 2013 • Leave a Comment

The government is very keen to keep telling us,

We’re all in this together

as if to convince us that they know and feel the pain of the ordinary man and woman, when many suspect that they actually haven’t got a clue, cushioned as they are from “real life”.

I guess there are those who think the same of God – that he has no clue what it is like to actually have to try to live in this world…

So, John the Baptist is emphatic that he isn’t the Messiah.  The people who flocked to him must have been wondering, who then was.

Jesus came as one of them, and queued up alongside them to be baptized.  How that encapsulates all there is about Jesus.  He came as the ordinary man or woman in the queue, one of us – and yet so much more…

Luke 3:21-22

The Baptism of Jesus

21 While everyone else was being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. Then as he prayed, the sky opened up, 22 and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the form of a dove. A voice from heaven said, “You are my own dear Son, and I am pleased with you.”

The truth was out.  Yes Jesus was living as a human being, but he is God’s son.

That is, for me, what makes it all so awesome.  God fully understands what it is to be a human being, to live our life with all the stresses, strains and trials that entails.  But he is also God.  God knows our life, he’s lived it.  Jesus lived life on earth in the way God had always intended it to be.  The reactions and teachings we see in Jesus are what God has always been trying to tell his people – in Jesus he came and lived them so we could see.

Thank you God

that you came to earth

in the person of Jesus,

that he lived a human life,

yet lived it your way,

so we could see it.

May I learn from all he showed us,

and live my life

your ways

Posted in faith, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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It’s Not Me

•January 9, 2013 • 3 Comments

There are always those who believe their own publicity, who get ideas “Well above their station”, or get confused about what really is important.  Cue for example a whole rash of “celebrities”, many of whom are famous for nothing other than wanting to be famous.

There are also those humble souls, who have no concept of how good they are, or how worthwhile what they do is, or how much it helps.

John the Baptist knew exactly who he was – and who he wasn’t.  He understood entirely his place in the scheme of things.

15 Everyone became excited and wondered, “Could John be the Messiah?”

16 John said, “I am just baptizing with water. But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks. He will store the wheat in his barn and burn the husks with a fire that never goes out.”

Despite the whisperings beginning among other people, John knew he was not the Messiah.  He knew that his role in it all was to point to the Messiah, not try to be that himself.

How easy it is sometimes to think we can solve problems, we can save the world – and yes we can do our bit, but we are not the Messiah.  Our role, like that of John, is to point people to God, to Jesus and all he can do in and through them.

Lord,

may my life point people to you,

by all I do and say

Posted in faith, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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