Be Still and Know

Have You Not Heard?      Isaiah 40: 21-31      Mark 1: 29-39 The people believed their world was broken. They felt alone, their very souls ached.  Surely God had abandoned them. All of us feel this way at times. We feel alone, broken, we wonder where is God in all this.  During the pandemic even more so.  The people of Israel had been exiled to Babylon, far away from their promised land.  They were lost and began to wonder, does God even care about us?  Where is he? Have we been forgotten? Isaiah answers them. But not directly.  He asks the people not to think of their current suffering but to think of God.  Isaiah reminds the people of Israel that far from forgetting them, God loves them with a love that has no words. God continues to be committed to them whatever the circumstance is. Unlike us and the people of Israel, God’s power is infinite. God is unsearchable in his understanding. Simply put, there is no end to it....

Who Speaks for God? The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him. For they know his voice. Who speaks for God?  In the Bible a Prophet would speak for God.  They would be someone who spoke the truth that came from God.  They did not speak on their own authority or give personal opinions.  Their job or role was to make the will of God known to God’s people.  There are many prophets in the Old Testament, both minor ones, major ones and some not even named.  For me as a Christian three stand out.  Isaiah, Elijah and Moses.  Moses though, leads this esteemed group, he is head and shoulders above any of the other prophets.  The Book of Deuteronomy tells us; “There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face”.  There are four reasons Moses knew God face to face; 1-The other prophe...

      One day a man dressed in the clothes of a beggar stopped in front of run down church. He had often passed this way in his travels but today for some reason he felt the need to enter the church and pray.  Almost immediately he was deeply moved by the Holy Spirit. Lying prostrate, he heard a voice coming from the cross: “Francis, go and repair My house, which is being destroyed.” That was all he heard, that was all he needed to hear. Not looking for any deeper meaning to this call from God, St. Francis immediately started to  repair and rebuild the little church of San Damiano and then, others in the vicinity of Assisi. It was only later though that St. Francis realized this calling to rebuild God’s church was the human institution not the physical one.  By doing what was right in front of him though, St. Francis, over time accomplished both.       Throughout the history of our faith, God calls on his children. We become his hands, h...

Perhaps one of the most unique individuals in the Bible, John the Baptist was most certainly a bridge, a link between the old and the new.  The Old Testament and the New Testament. The Hebrew Prophets and Jesus Christ the Messiah. John was an Old Testament prophet who lived on the pages of the New Testament. John a cousin of Jesus had one purpose, one reason for being. In Isaiah we read, “A voice of one calling: In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord”. John’s first contact with Jesus was a womb to womb one. Mary pregnant with Jesus visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant with her first child. As the cousins greeted each other, Elizabeth’s baby (John) leapt for joy.  Thirty odd years later, John would in fact mark the beginning of the ministry of God’s Son, Jesus. Some people believe John was a Nazarite because he was a lonely hermit who dressed strange, never cut his hair and ate a pretty strange diet of locusts and honey. But he wasn’t. John was born of a ...