Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Scripture: Isaiah 55.1-2, 6-9
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
And your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me and eat what is good,
And delight yourselves in rich food.
Seek the Lord while God may be found,
Call upon the Lord while God is near;
Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts;
Let them return to the Lord,
That God may have mercy on them,
And to our God, for the Lord will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
And your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me and eat what is good,
And delight yourselves in rich food.
Seek the Lord while God may be found,
Call upon the Lord while God is near;
Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts;
Let them return to the Lord,
That God may have mercy on them,
And to our God, for the Lord will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Devotion:
All who are thirsty, all who are weak,
Come to the fountain, dip your heart in the streams of life.
Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away
In the waves of God’s mercy, as deep cries out to deep,
We sing, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”
As we read our Isaiah passage this week, it is not always easy to identify ourselves as ones who are thirsty or hungry. After all, we live in the land of plenty: we have grocery store options galore, even when there are some things out of stock. We have enough to have 3 meals a day and access to clean drinking water. We are not hungry or thirsty people. We have family, we have friends, we have our church family, and we live in a vibrant and active community. We can participate in local government, join a book study at the library, sign our kids up for soccer, and have a date night to see the latest movie. We have plenty surrounding us to keep us deeply satisfied. Right?
In the classic Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp, there is a scene where Lady the dog wakes with the sunlight at 6am and licks at Jim Dear’s hands and feet until he gets up. Startled, he exclaims, “Oh no! Can’t you explain to Lady about Sundays?” I think of this often: in our busy and bustling lives, the last thing we think we need is more discipline and structured time. We want to languish in our pajamas on Sunday mornings and give our bodies and minds the rest they need. Church—complete with having to get up and showered and dressed, with having to sit in an uncomfortable pew, with its encouragement to transform and shift our lives to be more faithful and disciplined—well, it’s just not very appealing all the time. It feels, at times, like the last thing we need.
But Isaiah 55 reminds us that we are thirsty, that we are starving in fact. It invites us to recognize our hunger and the unsatisfying ways we have sought to quench that thirst. And it invites us to realize that the discipline of sitting in the pew on Sunday mornings, even when we would have rather lazed about on the couch, will provide us the nourishment we need for the week.
Join us for worship this week, as we continue on the journey of Lent together, and may your souls be fed
and satisfied!
All who are thirsty, all who are weak,
Come to the fountain, dip your heart in the streams of life.
Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away
In the waves of God’s mercy, as deep cries out to deep,
We sing, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”
As we read our Isaiah passage this week, it is not always easy to identify ourselves as ones who are thirsty or hungry. After all, we live in the land of plenty: we have grocery store options galore, even when there are some things out of stock. We have enough to have 3 meals a day and access to clean drinking water. We are not hungry or thirsty people. We have family, we have friends, we have our church family, and we live in a vibrant and active community. We can participate in local government, join a book study at the library, sign our kids up for soccer, and have a date night to see the latest movie. We have plenty surrounding us to keep us deeply satisfied. Right?
In the classic Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp, there is a scene where Lady the dog wakes with the sunlight at 6am and licks at Jim Dear’s hands and feet until he gets up. Startled, he exclaims, “Oh no! Can’t you explain to Lady about Sundays?” I think of this often: in our busy and bustling lives, the last thing we think we need is more discipline and structured time. We want to languish in our pajamas on Sunday mornings and give our bodies and minds the rest they need. Church—complete with having to get up and showered and dressed, with having to sit in an uncomfortable pew, with its encouragement to transform and shift our lives to be more faithful and disciplined—well, it’s just not very appealing all the time. It feels, at times, like the last thing we need.
But Isaiah 55 reminds us that we are thirsty, that we are starving in fact. It invites us to recognize our hunger and the unsatisfying ways we have sought to quench that thirst. And it invites us to realize that the discipline of sitting in the pew on Sunday mornings, even when we would have rather lazed about on the couch, will provide us the nourishment we need for the week.
Join us for worship this week, as we continue on the journey of Lent together, and may your souls be fed
and satisfied!