November 16th - Reflection

Ezekiel 39:21-40:4 (NRSV)
Mercy on the house of Israel

I will display my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt treacherously with me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies' lands, and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind; and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there. He brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, a man was there, whose appearance shone like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. The man said to me, "Mortal, look closely and listen attentively, and set your mind upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israel."

Reflection
We fall captive to sin. The sinful choices we make snatch us in and capture us. This is our own doing. God desires for no one to sin. But we do sin and fall captive. When we sin against God and turn our backs on God we are exiled from God. Exiled and captive, we begin to learn how much we need God in our lives. We begin to see that God is our creator and Father and Brother and very Spirit within us. We are in exile, captive to sin, longing for the presence of God.

But God was always there. We just weren't there for a while. God was waiting for us to call out of our exile and captivity to him. We need God. We need God to live and breath. As we return to God, we find that God welcomes us with open arms. We find that God has always loved us, even when we were in exile captive to sin. We find a gracious loving God that was there all the time. We just needed to get over ourselves and get God.

As we return to God; see the visions of what God intends. Listen to the prophets and the Word. Reach out in love to God and neighbor and see that vision of people no longer in exile and captive to sin. See that vision of the people returning from all directions, slowing walking hand-in-hand towards the foot of the cross. See the vision of all kneeling at the cross and slowing looking up at the life given in our Savior Jesus Christ. Then see the vision of that Life alive and the celebration at the table of all people who return to God in Christ together in praise and thanksgiving and bread and wine. See the celebration of the return! Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, I need you to live. I need you to lead and guide my every action. I want to please you. I look towards the vision of that table. I give thanks for the little peeks of that vision you give to me in my lifetime here and now. You are my God. You are my Savior. --- Amen