Christmastide
January 3, 2022
Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 43:1-7
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth-everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Hymns from my youth played through my thoughts as I read this scripture. No Never Alone*, Jesus Loves the Little Children** (they are precious in his sight), and In Christ there is no east or west***. The first two songs are not in the current hymnal we use at my church. Music trends change just like everything else, but music plants the theology of our future in our lives as children that may stick with us longer than anything else we are taught. I think of my brother-in-law lying in ICE with COVID for 14 days before my sister could visit him in person. I thank God for the miracles of modern medicine but more importantly, I thank the Lord for being with him for those 14 days and every day since. Pictures of the children staving in Yemen flashed before me as I consider how we are all called to love the Little Children, all the children of the world. For the last several weeks, Oklahomans have opened their homes and their hearts to Afghans fleeing from the fall of their country as God gathers God’s children from the east and the west.
In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth.
In Christ shall true hearts ev’rywhere
their high communion find.
His service is the golden cord
close binding humankind.
Join hands, then, people of the faith,
whate’er your race may be.
All children of the living God
are surely kin to me.
In Christ now meet both east and west,
in him meet south and north.
All Christly souls are joined as one
throughout the whole wide earth.
Prayer: Lord, I thank you for the songs of my youth and the love you shared with all who sang them. Let them continue to guide us in our love. Amen.
* https://childbiblesongs.com/song-30-jesus-loves-the-little-children.shtml See at **https://hymnary.org/text/ive_seen_the_lightning_flashing
***https://hymnary.org/text/in_christ_there_is_no_east_or_west_oxenh
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.