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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

October 10, 2022

Invitatory

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: O come, let us adore him.

Reading - Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,

   and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

   the spirit of counsel and might,

   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

   or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

   and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

   and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze,

   their young shall lie down together;

   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

They will not hurt or destroy

   on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

   as the waters cover the sea.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

Some of you know that my sister recently had her second child. I have always heard that “a baby changes everything.” Now I see it with my own eyes. The energy of a family completely shifts when there’s a newborn to care for. Priorities change. What matters now is keeping that tiny baby alive - keeping him fed, changed, warm, sleeping - and not so much the stacks of laundry or dishes on the counter. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece’s world has been turned upside down by a 10-lb creature. 

“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” This familiar text from the prophet Isaiah is typically read in Advent. It tells of the coming Messiah - the shoot of Jesse - who will turn the world upside down. This Lord will rule not through judgment and division, but with wisdom, understanding, righteousness, and equity. In this Kingdom of God, energies and priorities change. Predator and prey live together peaceably, the lowly are lifted up and the high and mighty are brought down. The shoot of Jesse does not transform us quietly. His presence changes everything, “for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” 

I realize that it is not yet Advent, but I don’t think we should reserve our amazement at the Incarnation for a mere four weeks of the year. It is miraculous and mystifying that Jesus comes to the world as a baby. He enters the same way we all did: innocent, vulnerable, reliant on others to protect him. This is part of what is so amazing about God’s plan: A fragile baby is born, lives, dies, and becomes the savior of a transformed world.  

My nephew is not the savior of the world, but I see in him a glimpse of the hope Jesus brought more than two thousand years ago. His tiny body - not strong enough even to break out of his swaddling blankets - is full of potential. My hope is that he will become the kind of person who learns from the example of Jesus, that he will cultivate a “spirit of wisdom and understanding,” “of counsel and might.” If we can all learn from that example and strive each day to be a little more Christ-like, then one day the vision laid out in Isaiah will become a reality.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy Name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

    as we forgive those

        who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

    and the power, and the glory

   for ever and ever. Amen.