Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, June 26, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
We cannot keep silent. The prophet Isaiah stood up and shouted his demands for God’s justice, first against God’s people whose actions oppressed those God commanded them to serve, and then on behalf of God’s people who became victims of the oppression of others. With Isaiah we are called to be prophets, to speak God’s words of justice to all who would pervert it for their own gain. It has been said many times that “silence is violence” and that “silence is complicity” and these things are absolutely true. When we turn away and pretend the pains and trials of those who are different than us are not our problem, we become responsible for their pains and trials and answerable to God for our failure to speak up.
For the sake of God’s beloved children and all of creation, we cannot keep silent, and we cannot rest until their vindication shines out like the dawn.
When have I failed to speak up when it was required? When have I spoken up?
![Jonah 1:1-17; 3:1-10 [4:1-11], Jonah and God’s Mercy](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/6bbb490e-4992-4659-a8be-02d8397d68af/24-11-10.jpg)
