Daily Scripture:
Isaiah 56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.”
8 Adonai Elohim says,
he who gathers Isra’el’s exiles:
“There are yet others I will gather,
besides those gathered already.” (Complete Jewish Bible).
Reflection Questions:
Astronauts see our planet perhaps more the way God does. They share that with us through remarkable photographs. Several of them have noted that as they view Earth from space, there are no visible border lines dividing one country or people group from another.* Isaiah sensed that perspective long before space travel (or even Galileo)—God’s house was “a house of prayer for all peoples.” God, he said, gathered Israel’s “outcasts,” foreshadowing Jesus' love for and welcome of all sinners, tax collectors, Samaritans and “lepers.”
- Jesus appeared to love Isaiah 56:7. Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17 and Luke 19:46 all reported that he quoted the text as he challenged the exploitive dealings that went on in the Temple courts at Passover time. In what ways could those dealings have been an obstacle that kept the Temple from being a house of prayer for all peoples? Are there ways, intentional or inadvertent, that we may make our “temples” unfriendly to some people God wishes to welcome?
- Many mainline scholars believe Isaiah 56 spoke to Israel after their return from exile in Babylon. It said God did not consider the work of gathering outcasts finished: “I will gather still others to those I have already gathered.” Jesus certainly took that attitude (cf. John 4:35, Matthew 22:8-10). Resurrection is celebrating opening the first new church building in downtown Kansas City in over 80 years (click here for more information). Do you believe that means we’ve nearly finished our work of gathering outcasts at all campuses, or that we’re just starting?
Dear God, your epic story in the Bible shows you again and again reaching into forgotten corners of the human family, gathering outcasts into the circle of your love. Thank you for including me. Help me welcome outcasts, as you do. Amen.
* Archibald MacLeish, viewing a photo of Earth taken by astronauts circling the moon (click herefor that photo), wrote on Dec. 25, 1968, “To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold—brothers who know now they are truly brothers.” Quoted from http://cecelia.physics.indiana.edu/life/moon/Apollo8/122568sci-nasa-macleish.html.
Read today's Insight by Roberta Lyle
Roberta Lyle has been on the Resurrection staff since 2006. She serves as the Program Director for Local Impact Ministries, concentrating on Education, Life Skills and Youth Focused Ministries.
Earlier this month I visited Healing House in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Healing House is an organization that provides holistic services to people who are rebuilding their lives after overcoming substance abuse. During that visit, as at other times, the phone was constantly ringing as people looking for a safe place to continue their recovery call to ask if space is available for them. A lot of these people feel like outcasts, sometimes estranged from their family, unable to find a good job and worried about their future. Once they are admitted to the program at Healing House they receive recovery support and life skills training, but they are also required to take part in faith-based activities. While they aren’t required to follow a particular religion, many Healing House residents choose to attend weekly services at Resurrection's Downtown campus, where they are welcomed and accepted into a wider community of believers.
The residents of Healing House in turn give back to those in need through various community service projects. On Easter and Christmas they take food, pocket-sized New Testaments and backpacks filled with hygiene items to those still living on the streets, letting them know that they are remembered and valued.
I would guess that at some time in our lives we all feel like an outcast. I know I have. When I do I have been comforted knowing that Jesus doesn’t see the world the way others do, but welcomes and heals those who feel unloved or unwanted. My prayer is that I can make others feel that love and acceptance as well.
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Roberta Lyle has been on the Resurrection staff since 2006. She serves as the Program Director for Local Impact Ministries, concentrating on Education, Life Skills and Youth Focused Ministries.
Earlier this month I visited Healing House in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Healing House is an organization that provides holistic services to people who are rebuilding their lives after overcoming substance abuse. During that visit, as at other times, the phone was constantly ringing as people looking for a safe place to continue their recovery call to ask if space is available for them. A lot of these people feel like outcasts, sometimes estranged from their family, unable to find a good job and worried about their future. Once they are admitted to the program at Healing House they receive recovery support and life skills training, but they are also required to take part in faith-based activities. While they aren’t required to follow a particular religion, many Healing House residents choose to attend weekly services at Resurrection's Downtown campus, where they are welcomed and accepted into a wider community of believers.
The residents of Healing House in turn give back to those in need through various community service projects. On Easter and Christmas they take food, pocket-sized New Testaments and backpacks filled with hygiene items to those still living on the streets, letting them know that they are remembered and valued.
I would guess that at some time in our lives we all feel like an outcast. I know I have. When I do I have been comforted knowing that Jesus doesn’t see the world the way others do, but welcomes and heals those who feel unloved or unwanted. My prayer is that I can make others feel that love and acceptance as well.
Like this post? Share it!
You might also like:
- Prayer Tip: Where Are The Other Nine?
- Who needs a doctor?
- Another tax collector who chose to follow Jesus
- The life-changing results of Jesus' kindness
- Jesus, “the guest of a sinner”
- Or download this week's printable GPS.
©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
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