Dear Listeners and Readers, Friends in Jesus Christ
Our watchword for the week following the Sixth Sunday after Trinity is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 43 verse 1, “This is what the Lord says – he who created you: Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine,” (NRSVB). This is one of the very precious verses of scripture, one that inspires us with new hope, especially when we feel as if we are only a number in the vast array of the complex universe. God assures us today, just as he assured the people of Israel and Judah in the time of the prophecies of Isaiah, that each individual is known, redeemed and called by God, the Creator God, our Father. “Summons” is a strong word, with legal implications. If we are summoned to a court of law, we cannot ignore this call, it will carry grave costs and penalties to ignore or defy a legal summons. God, the fair and righteous judge of the world, summons each on of us to his court of law, not to give us a sentence and punishment, but to tell us that he knows us and has made a ruling on us. He has pronounced us as free citizens of the City of God, we are pardoned and redeemed, he paid the price and he reinstates us. We are judged just and acknowledged by name, the name of child of God, redeemed to live life in abundance of joy and peace. This is the Good News, the Gospel, that we can proclaim to all: God calls each one of us his own precious and worthy child, he calls us personally by our own name, for he is our LORD.
The watchword for today is also taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 56 verse 7, “My house shall be called a place of prayer for all peoples,” (NRSVB). In this chapter the prophet tells of his vision of the future blessings that will be bestowed on all those people who will come and join Israel in worship and fearful reverence of the Lord, those who have been convicted through the Light out from the Branch of Jesse, that God dwells amidst his people. We read in verse 6, “Also those foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it and who holds fast My covenant by conscientious obedience, all these I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer,” (Amplified Bible). When Jesus died for us on the Mount of Calvary, we were brought to the holy mountain. There we can take off our shoes, for we are now on holy ground. We behold our Lord, the Light of the World, dying for us, and in dying the curtain of the HOLIEST of Holy Places was torn open to end the separation between the holy and profane. We have been summoned to receive the justice of our Lord. All are included in the family of the chosen. God has chosen to redeem all through his love and grace, in the word and work of his Son. At the foot of the Cross we come and worship in this holy place together. God is with us where we go, wherever we come together to worship in truth and unity, there is the house of God, there we pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World.
The Apostle Paul teaches in his Letter to the Colossians, in Chapter 3 verse 11, “There is no longer Greek or Jew, slave or free; but Christ is all and in all,” (NRSVB). Because we are dressed with the new identity of Christ, we can become, as Martin Luther loved to say: “Little Jesus’ to one another.” The differences, but more importantly the indifferences, are gone and we can appreciate and respect and love one another for who and whom they are, children, created in the image of God. Once again, the Apostle Paul gives us wise counsel, when he writes in the Letter to the Ephesians in Chapter 4 verse 32: “And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tender-hearted and compassionate and understanding, forgiving one another readily and freely, as God in Christ forgave you,” (Amplified Bible). This is how we become serving servants to our brothers and sisters, just as Christ has shown us through his example, of word, deed and work. For he is the new identity within each of us, he is in, with and under us as we walk in and with and under his love and guidance in this world.
Father, how awesome that we are yours, called by name to worship you together in Spirit, though also having to be, at times, physically apart. We pray with all our redeemed brothers and sisters, through the ages, past and present and future to you, our Lord and Saviour. We wait for you and pray: Come, Lord Jesus, Come, Amen.