Christmas Planning and Isaiah
Getting ready for our Christmas Eve services. I get to plan the early, family-friendly service (7:00 PM). I really want to use some video this year - more than we have in the past - as well as engage people's senses in other ways... Of course, it's the Monday before and I don't have anything "set in stone" - lots of ideas, one of which already fell by the wayside because I didn't get on it early enough (no, no, I'm just early for next year...heh). Got some neat reasources - Cloth for the Cradle from the Iona Community has some interesting ideas in it as well as Alternative Worship by Jonny Baker and Doug Gay. I have Fresh Out of the Box Volume 3 from Lumicon which is pretty good and the Mirrors DVD from Sacramentis... Whew, looks like I have the resources (those are just the things in front of me - I have a bunch of other worship planning stuff and video stuff...but those are just tools - I need inspiration...)
I was reading Isaiah this morning (I use a daily lectionary for devotional readings) and a couple of things from Isaiah 43 jumped out at me
1. But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
Two really important themes for me in my faith and in my ministry are here. "I have called you by name, you are mine." There's something powerful about names. Jesus is named prophetically in ways that go far beyond any human intention in giving such a name could have conceived. (I know EVERYBODY in the Bible is named prophetically it seems - I mentioned in a sermon once that Jacob means "he who supplants" or "he who grabs by the heel" forgetting that little 5 year old Jake was in the third row - I had a lot of 'splainin' to do that day...heck, just yesterday I was talking about Rachel, my daugther's name, meaning "sheep" or "ewe" - and there sat another Rachel at our 8 AM service...sigh...I hope she wasn't offended...our daughter knows what her name means...). ANYWAY, there's something powerful about names - but not in the sense of prophecy. I mean about identity. And God calls us, not generally, not randomly, but personally and individually BY NAME and He calls us his own. How many parents during a recital or school or church program turn to the person sitting next to them and whisper, "That one is mine." It means a lot. It's about being proud. It's about love. It's not ownership but RELATIONSHIP. I'm finding that more and more and more important as I get older...
God also says "besides me there is no savior." Could it get any clearer? God made flesh. That's what Saturday night is all about. Emmanuel, God with us. God, our Savior. Besides Him, there is NO SAVIOR.
Well, I've procrastinated enough.
I was reading Isaiah this morning (I use a daily lectionary for devotional readings) and a couple of things from Isaiah 43 jumped out at me
1. But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
11. I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no savior.
and besides me there is no savior.
Two really important themes for me in my faith and in my ministry are here. "I have called you by name, you are mine." There's something powerful about names. Jesus is named prophetically in ways that go far beyond any human intention in giving such a name could have conceived. (I know EVERYBODY in the Bible is named prophetically it seems - I mentioned in a sermon once that Jacob means "he who supplants" or "he who grabs by the heel" forgetting that little 5 year old Jake was in the third row - I had a lot of 'splainin' to do that day...heck, just yesterday I was talking about Rachel, my daugther's name, meaning "sheep" or "ewe" - and there sat another Rachel at our 8 AM service...sigh...I hope she wasn't offended...our daughter knows what her name means...). ANYWAY, there's something powerful about names - but not in the sense of prophecy. I mean about identity. And God calls us, not generally, not randomly, but personally and individually BY NAME and He calls us his own. How many parents during a recital or school or church program turn to the person sitting next to them and whisper, "That one is mine." It means a lot. It's about being proud. It's about love. It's not ownership but RELATIONSHIP. I'm finding that more and more and more important as I get older...
God also says "besides me there is no savior." Could it get any clearer? God made flesh. That's what Saturday night is all about. Emmanuel, God with us. God, our Savior. Besides Him, there is NO SAVIOR.
Well, I've procrastinated enough.
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