For my money, the lectionary we follow as Church of the Brethren gets a little odd this week.   Without going too much in the weeds, there have been two options most weeks for the Old Testament lesson and the Psalm.  Last week, the lectionary we follow chose Jeremiah as the OT lesson (which we used).   This week there’s an option to continue in Jeremiah or go with Isaiah, oddly we abandon Jeremiah and go with Isaiah this week.

So, here is what we get:

Isaiah 58:9b-14
 Psalm 103:1-8
 Hebrews 12:18-29
 Luke 13:10-17

Am I going crazy?  How much does the beginning of the OT lesson sound like the Psalm I referenced in the message this past Sunday.  Basically, for God, night is like day and darkness is like light.  We push further on the theme of last Sunday, that God will guide us and do it continually.   I especially like verse 12, that our ancient ruins will be rebuilt.  If we look back at some of the foundational moments of our lives, wouldn’t we like an opportunity to replace them or at the very least, fix them up a bit?  Verse 13 is something that I think about from time to time, doing a better job of keeping the Sabbath.  I wonder just how difficult it would be to plan our week in advance so that what we did on Sunday did not cause anyone to work, not just us, but anyone.   No running into Walmart or Food Lion or grabbing lunch out.  That would certainly require modifying my life.

The Psalm sent me down a rabbit hole looking for a hymn I thought I remembered.  It was in fact not a hymn, but more of a contemporary Gospel song, called 10,000 Reasons.  The refrain of “Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul” just rang in my head.  There’s something similar in our hymnal, but not the tune I was thinking.  If you look at this reading, it really lends itself to the comforting message from Isaiah earlier.  God will not just be with us, but see us through the difficult times, “redeeming us from the pit” as it were in the Psalm.  Verse eight is yet another that calls out to us to sing the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”  We do indeed serve a loving, compassionate and faithful God.

Music has again blinded me a bit as I look at the Epistle lesson.  One of my favorites is “Power in the Blood” and that was on repeat in my head as I tried to wade through Paul’s words here.  There’s way more to unpack from this text than I can begin to look at in this little first-blush look at the readings.  I’ll focus on the end, where there is the typical Pauline praise of God and his deeds and then a call to action or his readers.  God has created an unshakable kingdom and we should give thanks that we will be part of that, but in addition we should offer God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe.  Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I’d like to think that’s a dig at the services that include light shows and the like 😊

Remember the reference to the Sabbath in Isaiah?  It’s back.   Good old Jesus stirring up trouble by healing a woman on the Sabbath.  It’s funny because I was thinking of this exact text when making my comments earlier, thinking about yard work and household chores that must be tended to, even on the Sabbath.   Is it okay to mow my lawn?  Comically, the former Pastor and I talked about that once as I ribbed him about doing so (I mow almost exclusively on Sunday).  The good work of God knows no season, nor is it bound by time constraints or limited by the very traditions of the church that claims to honor the Almighty.  Yes, we should all rejoice at the wonderful things that Jesus did and what he continues to empower us to do.

My first look take-aways of the four readings.  Hopeful that you will join me this week and give each of these a little more time and study.  Let’s see what God has to teach us this week!

Blessings and see you Sunday!