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Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany
January 10, 2025
Invitatory
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Isaiah 65:1-9
I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,
to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am’,
to a nation that did not call on my name.
I held out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
and offering incense on bricks;
who sit inside tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat swine’s flesh,
with broth of abominable things in their vessels;
who say, ‘Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.’
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all day long.
See, it is written before me:
I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their laps
their iniquities and their ancestors’ iniquities together, says the Lord;
because they offered incense on the mountains
and reviled me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
full payment for their actions.
Thus says the Lord:
As the wine is found in the cluster,
and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it’,
so I will do for my servants’ sake,
and not destroy them all.
I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
and my servants shall settle there.
Meditation-Rebecca Northington
There is so much darkness in the world if we look for it. I fear that this passage is often read to affirm the darkness that comes from our sins. Consider the news of the week: California wildfires consuming entire neighborhoods. Neighborhoods where my cousins live and were evacuated at 3 am Tuesday morning with their children and pets. Did they bring this devastation upon themselves?
New Orleans is still reeling from the car attack on Bourbon Street New Year’s Eve, when revelers' celebrations were cut short by terror and carnage. I am sure there are some who believe that those killed had “full payment for their actions”. The same people who believe God to be vindictive and set towards retribution and judgement. But did those revelers deserve this horror?
Finally, as we prepare for our Square Dance Fundraiser on January 25th, I cannot help but think of the devastation those communities in Asheville experienced this past September. Again, whole neighborhoods wiped out by rising water of biblical proportion. Was that God’s wrath?
I cannot believe it was.
I believe this passage points more towards man's choices, and the devastating results of those choices on ourselves. Isaiah speaks of a God and Messiah who offer themselves to us with love and compassion; even to those who would not see them or know them. Humankind remains consistent – we choose our ways, our rules, and our understanding. We choose burnt offerings because we think we can control how God might love us. We dip in and out of service to God depending on our desires and our schedules. Are we truly serving God, or serving ourselves?
Amid the backdrop of wildfires, snow storms, wars and terrorist activity, we are a people less and less inclined towards God. We could try to assign blame for the various tragedies. We could even go so far as to see this as punishment for our choices. But blame does not restore hope; only faith does. Hope comes from turning towards God.
Jesus’s life and death fulfill the law of the Old Testament and liberate all of us to be in personal relationship with God. The dynamic shifts from punitive to unconditional love, allowing our faith to be more honest. Like Paul (and Augustine), I would argue that with real faith comes a genuine desire to serve God, rather than serving ourselves. It is not about playing the game, or playing God. When we honestly try to serve God we treat the earth and all its people better. We see the light, we are the light that pushes out the darkness. This is what God wishes for us I believe.
Prayer attributed to St. Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
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