Words of Welcome

  Micah 6:1-8 Back during my teen years, a bumper sticker appeared with a request: “Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me.” There’s truth in that request, because God isn’t finished with us. But, hopefully, we’re moving toward spiritual maturity, which, according to the Ephesians letter, means reaching “the measure of the full stature of Christ” ( Eph. 4:13 ). This is a lifelong process. Unfortunately, I think this meme often served as an excuse for bad behavior, especially when that statement was placed on the back bumper of a car that cuts you off.    While I’m thankful that we’re justified by God’s grace, if we read scripture, we discover that God has high expectations of us. This is the message we hear from God through the words of the eighth-century prophet Micah, who lived outside Jerusalem. This prophet was deeply troubled by what he observed taking place around him, as the rich exploited the poor. Throughout this book, the prophet envisions Go...

  Sunrise at Arches National Park Isaiah 49:1-7 After Elwood Blues picked up his brother Jake from the Joliet Prison, they set out on a “Mission from God.” This divinely authorized mission involved raising money to prevent the bank foreclosure on the Catholic orphanage where they grew up. Although their mission from God was a race against time, nothing, not even the Illinois State Police, which was authorized to use “all unnecessary violence to apprehend the Blues Brothers,” was going to stop them from saving their childhood home.  In our reading from Isaiah 49, a prophet commonly known as Second Isaiah, may face different kinds of obstacles than the Blues Brothers, but he also found himself on a mission from God. The prophet speaks to Jewish exiles living in Babylon, offering them hope, encouragement, and their own mission from God. In an earlier chapter, God tells the people: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit up...