Day 259

Isaiah 22:1-24:23; Galatians 2:17-3:9; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 23:15-16

Called to Live

Thank God for the church who does not leave us alone to sit in our chairs, read passages like the one assigned today from Isaiah, and decide that we might as well “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” The desolation that God brings upon the earth is so complete in Isaiah’s prophecy that all seems to be lost.

And there is where the church comes in, and pairs this difficult reading from Isaiah with the hope of Psalm 60, “O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry now restore us!”—and restore us God does!

Jesus not only becomes one of us, but in the sacrifice of His life, Christ lives in us—with us, in us, around us, above us, through us. Christ is alive. And if Christ is alive, then hope is alive and strong and can save us from any trouble, from any stumble, and restore us from any fall.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul’s words yell at us from the page. They are strong and insistent that we get it, get the truth that what we were and indeed what we are—whether perfect or flawed, whole or broken—matters not. What matters is that Christ lives in us, in the hope that we must reflect to the rest of the world.

This means that we must not dwell on our physical infirmities, our relationship difficulties, our financial insecurities. When someone asks you how you are, answer, “I am alive!” Eat, drink and be merry, you who are filled with Christ, for tomorrow you live!

The Rev. Alison P. Harrity