Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For I will restore health to you,
and your wounds I will heal,
says the Lord,
because they have called you an outcast:
‘It is Zion; no one cares for her!’”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, November 30, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God cares for the outcast. There is a special place in God’s heart for the least, the lost, the rejected, the oppressed, the injured, the broken-hearted, the poor in spirit. This seems to have been the lot of God’s people, the Israelites, for most of their history. The early Christians, too—the ones who followed in Jesus’ way of justice, equity, and love of God and neighbor, before Christianity became the religion of empire—were persecuted for their faith. Many who have faithfully spoken truth to power and stood up for the oppressed have likewise been outcast, persecuted, murdered. And still in our modern culture, many people are pointed to as less-than, as abominations, as deserving of contempt, harassment, violence, and worse. These are the ones God loves most dearly, the ones God calls us to embrace and work to include and empower. Our God is the God of the outcast. Can we extend God’s loving hand to practice radical welcome for all people without exception?
How can I practice radical welcome in my day-to-day life?
