Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 on biblegateway.com
Devotion
We busy ourselves picking up papers strewn over steaming grates, our eyes bleary from waking at 5 a.m. to the sound of church bells. The trees glow forlornly from the windows as we pick up wrappings thrown about by laughing children. So many walls still divide us. And yet in the rising of the morning sun, a nudge draws us all to your service. Sitting in the pews, we can almost hear the angels shouting as the choir sings, “Holy, holy, holy!” And then you feed us again, turn us to one another and shoo us out: Go forth! Be sent! Get out! So many have no place to rest their heads this day. So many lonely. So many hungry. So many cry, “I thirst.”
Prayer
Blessed Jesus, you are lifted up this morn for all the world to see, that making known your steadfast love for us in your birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and this your holy feeding, you might draw everyone to yourself. So nudge us by your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands by your love might be bearers of one another in joy and sorrow, rejoicing and suffering, plenty and want until your coming in glory, for the honor of your name. Amen.