Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, November 14, 2010, the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Isaiah 65:17-25
During the sermon I asked the congregation,
"What might this congregation look like in the future?"
After a few moments of hesitation, the answers started coming:
"Full pews!"
"Deeper relationships!"
"A vibrant youth program where the youth are involved in the church!"
"A commitment to ministry in the community"
In this weeks reading from Isaiah 65, God says through the prophet, "Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating." As we pray for full pews, deeper relationships, a vibrant youth program, a meaningful community ministry, and all the other things that were named aloud, or in our hearts, let us also pray that God will give us the ability to rejoice fully in whatever new things God will be creating at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church. Knowing that God is in control enables us to free ourselves from the anxiety that change sometimes brings. The prophet uses the metaphor of a wolf and a lamb feeding together (v.25), which would normally be pretty stressful for the lamb, to reinforce this message. Knowing that God is in control frees us to bask in the radiance of God's glorious works in our midst.
Pastor's Aside
Isaiah 65 reminds me of the only joke I know from Isaiah.
"The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat." Isaiah 11:6
When Jesus was a young lad he went up to the Temple; there the Chief Pharisee read to the crowd from the 11th chapter of Isaiah . When he finished reading verse six, he rolled up the scroll and asked the crowds if they understood its meaning. Jesus stood up and said to the Pharisee, "Just as the prophet has said, the leopard and the goat will lie down together, but Isaiah forgot to mention that the goat won't get much sleep."
George Tatro
CIRCLES II and III
MDPC/MDPCCP Service
