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This week in my devotions I came across a favorite verse from Isaiah:
“On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines” (vs 6). I am reminded again of how Thanksgiving Feasts are a foretaste of heaven . . . friends and family around a table, old stories and jokes revisited, great food, perhaps a roaring fire in the fire place, with laughter, joy, delight and gratitude abounding. I pray that you may have celebrated a Thanksgiving like that this year and are reminded that God promises we get to do that forever! However, Isaiah’s next verse is also just as encouraging: “On this mountain [The Lord} will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations - He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.” (vs 7) The reality for many is that holidays like Thanksgiving are not always a time to rejoice. Memories of loved ones who have died, past mistakes, broken relationships, illness, or financial stresses can make holidays a painful time. What a promise the Lord makes to us: He is Sovereign. He is Emmanuel – ‘God with us’… The feast at the end of the ages comes with the assurance that death is defeated, tears of shame and sadness will be wiped away forever, and the Lord will indeed “make all things new”. As we head into Advent and Christmas, may the God who has in store for us more than we can ever hope or imagine sustain us through the joys and sorrows of this present life until we reach the Great Banquet and feast with Him forever. Looking Foreword to That Day with You, ~ David
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“So how should Christians engage the world?
For one, it should be clear at this point that good intentions are not enough to engage the world well. The potential for stupidity, irrationality, cruelty, and harm is as high today as it has ever been in the past. God save us from Christians who are well intentioned, but not wise. As to strategy, for engaging the world, perhaps there is no single model for all times and all places… but at the beginning of the 21st century there is a growing recognition that the old models of engagement no longer work, if they ever did. There is a yearning, especially among the young, for a different way; a way that has integrity with historic truths of the gospel and the witness of the Spirit and that is adequate to [engage and influence] the present challenges. In opposition to the ‘defensive against’, ‘relevance to’, and ‘purity from’ paradigms [currently on display in the Christian market place of American life], I suggest a model of engagement called ‘faithful presence within’ [based on Jeremiah 29:4-7].” - James Davison Hunter, To Change the World page 276 Oswald Chambers writes:
"The first thing God does with us is to get us based on rugged Reality until we do not care what becomes of us individually as long as He gets His way for the purpose of His Redemption. Why shouldn't we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God's purpose and die away of self-pity, and all the so called Christian sympathy we are given will aid us to our death bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, and says - "Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine." If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart." - My Utmost for HIs Highest |
About the ResBlogMembers of staff and Vestry will be posting on the ResBlog to help us think through who we are in light of the gospel so that we might “spur one another on to love and good deeds.”
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Church of the Resurrection is a member of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in the Anglican Church in North America
Church of the Resurrection is a member of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic in the Anglican Church in North America