February 3rd Reflection by Bill Lynch

Isaiah 58:1-9a
Shout out, do not hold back!
   Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
   to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
   and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practised righteousness
   and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgements,
   they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?
   Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
   and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
   and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
   will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
   a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
   and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
   a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the fast that I choose:
   to loose the bonds of injustice,
   to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
   and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
   and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
   and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
   the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
   you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
   the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

Reflection
Sometimes we can be such good church people. We show up to church, confess our sins and go home to do it all again. We may even fast or do a little something that we declare is for God. What a bunch of bull! Especially when all of this is on our own terms. Only when it fits our schedule or doesn't happen to inconvenience us do we do the things the we think God wants us to do. But it's not about us... it's about God. We can look like good church people and talk the talk and walk the walk up to the point that it cramps our style then we go to the excuses. Then we turn to the fighting and the quarrels about what the other person does or doesn't do and we forget all about God and fuss with ourselves once again.

Confession, fasting, going to church and doing acts of kindness are all good things in God's sight, however, they turn sour when done with the purpose of getting God to give or do what we expect God to give or do. God desires that we humble ourselves and focus on God and God alone. That we don't focus on what we can get out of it but what God desires. We humble ourselves in confession and realize that we need God. We need God in order to live our lives. We need a Savior. And, yes, thanks be to God, Jesus was sent into this world to save all people from sin, death and the devil. So, with our focus on Jesus, we follow in his footsteps and serve and love the poor, we feed the hungry, we clothe the naked, we do things for other's out of a response and love of a God that took us up while we were destined for eternal death and saved us, not because we fed the hungry or clothed the naked or confessed or went to church or acted all "churchy" with all of the right words, but because God loves us and saves us.

Yes, God wants us to confess and go to church and to sing and to be joyful and to serve in a multitude of ways, but with a heart that waits for the sight of Jesus and gives up our lives to follow the fulfillment of all life in the life of Jesus. We give our hearts and our very lives to God, not for our own convenience and favor but for the glory of God in response to what God has already done for us in Jesus. We give our lives with joy and the return is beyond any joy we could ever experience in this time and in this place. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, may my heart and my life be made right for you that the "my" becomes the "your"... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen