Discipling Life

On Monday we looked at the first three verses of Isaiah 51 . Today we look at the next three verses.  4 Listen to me, my people,     and give heed to me, my nation, for a teaching will go out from me     and my justice for a light to the peoples. 5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly;     my salvation has gone out,     and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me,     and for my arm they hope. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens     and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish like smoke,     the earth will wear out like a garment,     and those who live on it will die like gnats, but my salvation will be forever,     and my deliverance will never be ended. These verses resonate with the idea that sometimes the world feels like it’s coming apart at the seams. The news is...

Isaiah 55:6-9 6  Seek the Lord while he may be found;     call upon him while he is near; 7  let the wicked forsake their way     and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,     and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts,     nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,     so are my ways higher than your ways     and my thoughts than your thoughts. (NRSVue) Isaiah 55 was addressed to the exiles returning to a home that few had ever seen with their own eyes. They had been uprooted and forcibly relocated about 70 years earlier. God is calling out to a people who have wandered, who have grown tired. They were weary, thirsty, and hungry.  The opening of chapter 55 reads… ...

The prophet Isaiah provides us with several passages that describe the one we often call the “Suffering Servant”. Beginning with the New Testament itself, the church has traditionally identified Christ as the Suffering Servant (e.g., Matthew 12:18-21; Acts 8:26-35 ).  In today’s text Isaiah speaks of a servant who wakes each morning ready to listen, to speak, and to endure. The servant’s strength does not come from stubborn self-reliance but from a daily yielding to God’s call. The image of setting one’s face “like flint” shows a determination rooted in trust: God helps, so there is no need to be ashamed. In our Wesleyan tradition, we talk a lot about “prevenient grace”—the way God is already working in our lives before we even realize it. Here, the servant recognizes that his ability to speak comfort to the weary isn’t something he came up with on his own. It is a gift. But notice that before the servant has a “tongue of a teacher,” he must have the “ear of a learner.” Mornin...

Today I gave an Ash Wednesday message before our first Lenten Luncheon this year. I focus on the assigned texts for today from Isaiah and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. A Lenten Journey Becomes a Life Journey Grace and peace to you in the name of Christ our Lord and Savior. So good to see you and have you with us today. In many churches, Lent begins with a smudge of ash on one’s forehead. It’s a reminder that we are all dust and to dust we will return, and yet we are dust that is beloved of God. Ash Wednesday ushers us into a season of holy honesty, inviting us to name our brokenness, our limits, and our longing for renewal. It is not a journey of shame, but of grace—a time when we turn again toward the God who meets us in our mortality and leads us toward life. Lent calls us to slow down, to repent, to realign our hearts with the way of Christ, trusting that every step taken in humility opens us up more fully to the transforming love that prepares for Easter’...