The Gospel lesson for this week’s lectionary readings is the story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. Its interesting that at first John thinks it should be Jesus that does the deed – he knows that Jesus is ‘superior’ to him so Jesus should baptize John. But Jesus insists, John consents, and Jesus is baptized. Then an amazing thing happens. A spirit like a dove descends on him and God speaks these words: “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) And just like any of us, I am sure he was glad to hear those words. All children love to hear that their mom or dad is proud of them.

This past Sunday I had an “I’m so proud of you” moment that I’d like to share. During the 9:30 service, at the end of communion, I was standing at the doors leading into the Sanctuary as we sang the last song of the communion set. And then I saw her. It made me so happy and proud of her. “Her” is an 8th grader who spends time with both her mom and with her dad. She started coming to Youth group last year. She is not my child, but all the kids in the Youth program kinda are. She is quite a special young lady. And there she was, all by herself, standing there worshiping God. Didn’t care that she would be there by herself. Didn’t mind finding a ride to church. There she was, in church by herself, singing away. Went up and gave her a little hug and told her I was glad to see here there. Still am.

Thanks for listening. I hope the Lord blessed you in some special way today so that you experience the loving presence of our Savior. Maybe you will be sharing it, maybe you will be receiving it, maybe you will just be observing it. God bless!!

Sometimes a single verse can contain SO much!! Today as I continued reading from Isaiah 42, verse 6 just exploded with life. It begins with “I the Lord have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.”

Righteousness is a mighty hard thing to live out. To live rightly means we say the right thing, we think the right thing, we say the right thing, and we do the right thing. It also means we don’t say, do, … things that are not ‘right’. At first glance this seems pretty tough, but the second half of the verse brings hope – God will take hold of our hand. If we allow Him to, He will lead us.

To be honest, the struggle for me comes in two forms. It is usually evident to me when I say or do or.. something I should not. My first struggle is that I still have times when I an not righteous. I have them, but quickly realize the error of the unkind thought, the mean word, … Seeking forgiveness is the natural next step too. My second struggle is with the things leave unsaid or undone. The “I shoulda” and “I coulda” moments!! These are harder to rectify. We can sometimes ‘fix’ things but more often than not we simply must realize what we should or could have done and try to step forward next time.

The second half of verse 6 tells us what God wants us to be and do. First He again assures us of His presence – “I will keep you and make you a covenant for the Gentiles [unbelievers].” The very last part of verse 6 reveals what we are called to do: to be a light, to open blind eyes, to free captives, to release those who sit in darkness.

At first I thought this seems hard. But as I pondered and processed it, there came a clarity. We do these things by sharing the love of Christ with those we meet. We are a light by pouring His love into other’s lives. We shine for them! Through this light the unbelievers ‘blind’ eyes come to see the truth. Oncethey see the truth their lives start to breakk free from the sin and cares of this world. As we continue to help them grow in their faith, they are able to step out of the darkness and to be freed from the wages of sin and death. They are released into new life.

This is our call. May we take hold of our Lord’s hand and walk in righeousness today!

What does it mean to be a servant? Many times in the Bible we are called to be a servant. After all, Jesus came to serve. And what better example could we have? The second of the great commandments calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. If you had to say what you loved the most in the whole world, I’m guessing neighbors wouldn’t be at the top of your list either.

In Isaiah 42: 1-4 we can learn what it means to be a servant and what God thinks about being a servant. In verse 1 God says he will uphold the servant and that he delights in the servant. He will give his Spirit to the servant, who will bring justice to the world. In verses 2 and 3 we learn that a servant doesn’t raise his voice and the servant does not break the bruised reed or snuff out the smouldering wick, but instead brings justice – second time. Finally, in verse 4, God assures us that the servant will not be discouraged and will establish justice on the earth – third time. Because of this, people will find hope.

Servants are here to serve. Servants are also here to bring justice. Let’s go back to the ultimate servant, Jesus, for a moment. How did he administer justice? Wasn’t it in things like extending healing to the broken, acceptance to the lonely, redemption to the sinner? Wasn’t it in feeding the hungry, visiting the lonely, caring for the orphan and the widow, clothing the naked? Isn’t it the same for us today???

Serve is a verb. Feeding, visiting, caring, clothing… – all verbs too!! Justice doesn’t have to just be about righting the wrongs of the world and making sure everything is ‘fair.’ Justice can be as simple as making someone feel that they matter, that they are worthy of our time, that they are worthy of God’s love. In short, when we serve and bring justice we bring hope. Today may we all find a neighbor and may we all find a way to serve them through God’s love.

This week’s topic in theDEVOzine (UM version of Upper Room for youth) is “What is a Christian?” So for the week all of the writings will focus on this topic. To begin, please think for a moment how you would answer that question for yourself: What does it mean to be a Christian? [please share if you are so inclined]

To me it can mean so much but does it have to be the same for everyone? I think there are certain ‘non-negotiables’ so to speak. All Christians share a belief that Christ is the Savior and that through repentence we can find forgiveness of our sins. Maybe certain things are essential – a relationship with Jesus developed in prayer, study, and worship.

Today’s writing in the DEVO is titled “Belonging to the Lord” and uses Isaiah 44:5a as the verse: “Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord'”. The jist is that in some cultures you are defined not by what you are or do but by whom you belong to. So, it that how we define ourselves? Do you answer the question of who you are with ‘I belong to the Lord’ or with something else?

Today’s writing concludes with a ‘Reflect’ section about Bishop Desmond Tutu. It reflects his belief that all human beings belong together in a ‘bundle of life’. We are inextricably bound together. The question to ponder in the writing and for you and I today is this: What would it mean to be inextricably bound up in the life of Jesus Christ?