Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“In that day the Lord God of hosts called to weeping and mourning, to baldness and putting on sackcloth; but instead there was joy and festivity, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, June 13, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Our God is nothing if not consistent in her call to do justice and to repent of wrongdoing. Yet we live in and are complicit in a society that glorifies self, wealth, and comfort at the expense of the wellbeing of countless of our neighbors. It is a way of being that—though many claim to be people of faith—operates as if there is no God at all. “Get it while you can.” “You can’t take it with you.” “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, kids.” So in the midst of great oppression and suffering, which we ourselves have created and/or continue to contribute to, we ignore God’s exhortations from the beginning of time in favor of living it up. And, worse, so many Christians try to justify it theologically (I’m looking at you, Prosperity Gospelers). Isaiah is not just talking to Israel umpteen hundred years ago. Isaiah is looking us right in the eye right here right now and saying, “Cut it out.” And therein lies the work to which God calls us.
Do I live as if there is no God? How or how not?
