Daily Devotion for January 2, 2006

Crowns of Splendor

 

Psalm 148
Isaiah 62:1-5, 10-12
Revelation 19:11-16
Matthew 1:18-25

 

I couldn’t settle on one reading this morning, but on four.  You’ll have to look them up!  In these readings, we find bold and powerful images of our relationship with the divine. Through praise, righteousness, faithfulness, openness, and obedience, we are sent into the world to be “true” and to be “salvation like a blazing torch”.

 

The psalmist reminds us to praise the Lord! The heavens in all their glory praise him—the stars and sun and moon and angels. We praise him as part of the earthly body, along with the mountains, the “great sea creatures and all ocean depths.” I wonder how we each manifest our praises. The heavens and the earth praise God in spectacular diversity, in redundant and continuous chorus, in color and texture, in sound and silence.

 

And we are not to keep silent, but to allow our “righteousness (to) shine out like the dawn.” As described in Isaiah, Zion is renamed by God, as perhaps we are called to take on a new name, a new life. We shine brightly, unable to keep silent about our miracles, and are told, “You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand.”

 

Revelation sends the power of God forth from heaven on a horse, named The Word of God. The rider, Faithful and True, charges into the world bearing God’s will powerfully, with justice and light.

 

Reading these texts in preparation for Christmas shines a new bright light on the familiar story. Mary and Joseph were incredibly open and vulnerable. They were willing to receive and to obey, to become manifestations of God’s Word and work on earth. Their boldness and the power of their receptivity are so strong that we are still amazed.

 

This Advent season and into a new year, may we find ways to ride out, “faithful and true,” resting in the Lord’s hand and creating lives that are “crowns of splendor.”

 

Prayer
Heavenly Father – in this New Year help me to BOLDLY proclaim your salvation to those lost in darkness.  Amen

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