How Will You Respond To God’s Invitation?
Good Morning Friends,
This morning I was looking at some the events on this day in history and a couple of them I have shared in the message for in them both is a summons to see the hand of God in history. You see, the best experiences in life often start with a call and an offer to be engaged in a life changing experience but they do not always play out exactly as we might anticipate. There is reference to this idea in today’s scripture that has at its heart a promise and covenant and a relationship.
It is about a servant and a King and an opportunity to be strengthened in the process of submitting to a destiny ordained by God. How Will You Respond To God’s Invitation?
Scripture: And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, “Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Isaiah 49:5-7 (NRSV)
Message: So, on this date of the anniversary of the closing of Ellis Island and the anniversary of the very first web page, I am seeking, with some degree of wonder, the challenge of seeing Jesus in the implied promises of God in the Spirit of God through the ongoing work of Christ in the hearts of his people through history. And I marvel at how all good things connect in Christ and in scripture. For you will not find a clearer picture of Jesus Christ playing this role anywhere else in the Old Testament better than in the Book of Isaiah. He has words of comfort but also a spiritual awareness of God’s loving intentions though history. It is an invitation to imagine a future that is joyous but also to understand the history of the world in a more welcoming way, knowing that there is a time and season to all things. Regardless, as part of our shared experience of faith there is a calling to respond to the covenant of God that is designed to permeate all things through Christ. In this calling to share in holy history, there is the promise of the Messiah who will be everything needed to bring victory….an everlasting liberation. It is an invitation for all who are weary and burdened to find rest and it is a personal invitation speaking to the heart of our shared existence across time. Friends, Jesus and the Gospel of grace is not a demand but a wonderful invitation. We have been chosen to share in it as an act of love. Friends, the world is filled with invitations and how we choose them needs to consider how we can glorify God in the acceptance.
Pray we respond to invitations with the wisdom of a knowledge of the promises of God. Pray we admit we the people need Jesus. Pray we be humble in seeking Jesus in ways old and new. Pray though that we have awareness…a deepening awareness of the promise of God in Christ. Pray we realize that the promise of God is not so much a demand on us as an invitation that has no obligation until we accept it. Pray we experience it as a meal and a wedding and a celebration and a dance and a concert of angels and as a means of our very salvation. Pray we accept the invitation of community and experience the moral demands of our conscience in the unfolding developments of holy history. Pray our acceptance of the invitation helps us experience the plan of redemption, the glory, the conscience of God’s righteousness, and live into Christ’s power and providence. Pray we take on the image of the invitation that affirms the constitution of Christ in us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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