Kingdom Building
November 20, 2019
Scripture Reading: Luke 1:68-79
‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
And so, Jeremiah’s words were realized; God’s Word was made flesh and dwelt among us*. Luke is a wonderful storyteller. We owe him much for scripting the incarnation of God in words and acts of everyday people doing extraordinary work. A young girl is called to be the mother of the Chosen One. A women barren for years conceives and bears a son, known as John the Baptist, who introduces this Chosen One to the world. John’s father, the Priest Zachariah, attempts to put into writing the amazing facts of this story in the above poem.
The one who is coming is the Redeemer, Savior described by the ancient prophets. He is the one gifted to us by the tender mercy of God to give light to those who sit in darkness and to guide our feet to peace.
I write this after seeing on the morning news citizens of Hong Kong in turmoil over human rights, hearings being conducted regarding malfeasance in our government, and random acts of violence in various parts of the USA where people are being murdered apparently as solutions to domestic problems.
It is good that we have a designated time each year to remember that we have a Redeemer, a Savior that came into the world as an innocent infant to model for us a better way. It is even more important that we renew our efforts to share this Good News to the ends of the earth.
Prayer: Lord guide our feet to higher ground so we might see the places we need to work to fulfill our call to be your conduit of love. Amen.
*See John 1:14 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.