[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #592, Epiphany 2, 1/20/08

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Epiphany 2 – January 20, 2008

Isaiah 49:1 7
Psalm 40:1 11
1 Corinthians 1:1 9
John 1:29 42


Need A Lift?

Embroiled in a losing conflict, Israel hears God say, "I formed you for such a time as this."  Desperate for deliverance, the Psalmist remembers he is a part of God's plan to reveal God to the world.  Paul, personally rebuffed by the church at Corinth, remembers that God has set him aside for a higher purpose and addresses the church in terms of their high calling.  John the Baptist sees in Jesus the fulfillment of his call, and Jesus transforms Simon’s life and name by including him in the plan.

The lift people need is to know that their lives are a part of something higher than the current mess, something not just higher but sublime.  Human life always lends itself to a feeling of disarray.  People can mess up their lives with very little help or encouragement.  In Isaiah's time Babylon offered to assist Israel in messing up its life --  and did.  The Psalmist may have gotten into "the desolate pit ... the miry bog" by his own ingenuity, but he probably had help.  Paul delivered a sublime Gospel to the rabble at Corinth and found himself sunk in controversy.  John the Baptist was in a pitched battle with his own religious culture, and was abandoned to the Jordan valley.  Peter was surrounded with the anxiety of the times.  They all could have simply sunk, and at times may have thought that they were sinking, but they did not.  God lifted them with the assurance that they were an important part of the most important enterprise on earth, knowing the good news of God and following.  

They came to understand that they were not defined by the mess around them but by their knowledge of and relationship with God.  

First, because God knew them and gave them their identity:  "The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me."  (Isaiah 49:1)   "Then I said, "Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me."  (Psalm 40:7)  "Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God..."  (1 Corinthians 1:1)  "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (John 1:42) 

And second, because they knew God's high calling: "I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."  (Isaiah 49:6)  "You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you."  (Psalm 40:5)   "He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."  (1 Corinthians 1:8)  "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  (John 1:29)

We need a lift; therefore, we need to hear God say, "You are important to me."  We need a lift; therefore, we need God to share with us a vision that raises our sights.  "If we keep doing what we are doing, we will keep getting what we are getting," as they say in AA.  We are blessed to change what we are doing, to conform with our importance to God and our role in God's plan.    "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."  (Isaiah 49:3)


May these thoughts strengthen you. 
 
An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors 
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor 
(an e-mail service) 
 
[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with these lections.] 
 
http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/ 
 
Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at 
http://www.webspawner.com/users/McGregorPage/ 
 
Children’s Sermons coordinated with McGregorPage  available free to your email inbox 
To subscribe, write the word SUBSCRIBE in the Subject line and send it to childpage-request at intenex.net. 
 
To unsubscribe, write the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line and send it to mcgregorpage-request at intenex.net. 
 
You may contact the author at RMcGregorAlbq at AOL.COM. 
 
  --Copyright 2008, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved— 
You have permission to share this material with any individual provided that you include the source with e-mail address. 




________________________________________________________________________
More new features than ever.  Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com