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Shabbat Shalom!
I have a friend who is a rabbi in the Houston area. When I used to Read More
Becca Stevens, Don Welch | Read Psalm 98:1-9
Sing to the Lord a new song because of the marvelous things
God has done. God has vindicated the people. The psalmist
calls the whole earth to make a joyful noise in celebration of
God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.
I have been married to a songwriter for more than twenty-five...
God, our Creator and Sustainer, continue to be with us. We live in gratitude for and in reliance on your presence. Help us know that you are the Rock, the core of permanence when all else falls away. Amen.
Ecstasy over the Christmas miracle binds these passages together with unrestrained joy over what God has done and over who God is. The God whom these texts celebrate is a God who reigns in strength and whose activity on behalf of humankind is timelessly ancient. As worshipers, we join in rejoicing over the coming of the messenger “who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Isa. 52:7). We also celebrate “the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth . . . with righteousness, and . . . equity” (Ps. 98:9). Then a note of immediacy is struck by the focus on what God has done just now, in these “last days,” in which “he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb. 1:2). The One who was present at Creation, the eternal Word, “became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14).
• Read Isaiah 52:7-10. Where do you see signs of God’s peace amid the world’s brokenness?
• Read Psalm 98. Where in your life has a new beginning come most startlingly from an ending?
• Read Hebrews 1:1-12. When you next celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, re ect on how God has brought healing to your life.
• Read Luke 2:22-40. When have you been surprised by an inbreaking of God’s extraordinary love in an ordinary moment?
Respond by posting a prayer.
