Day Four – January 1, 2020 – Happy New Year!

 

Read: Isaiah 40:1-11 Comfort, Comfort

 

The Peace of Wild Things – Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

 

Do you beat yourself up when you do something wrong?  Can you forgive yourself? The people in Isaiah’s time had messed up big time.  They had turned away from God, but again and again God reached out to them. Isaiah 40 tells them “her penalty is paid”.  This is great news of forgiveness and new beginnings.

 

 

This God of forgiveness, will be like a shepherd, gathering sheep into her arms.  In this photo you can see the sheep are marked in red. This is used by the shepherds to mark their sheep so they can recognize them when they are in the field with other sheep.  This is the tender love of our Shepherd God, who recognizes us and calls us by name.

 

Prayer Focus:

Talk to God about places in your life where you need God’s comfort.  Thank God for God’s tender mercy and grace.

 

Music based on this Scripture:

“Comfort Ye and Ev’ry Valley” from Handel’s Messiah

“The Messiah” – Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra 2018    This concert is part of the SPCO’s new, free video concerts. 

 

Grace and peace,
Pastor Karen Bruins