Good morning! You made it to Saturday! I am so excited for today because I get to be in a choir retreat all day and then go see Fleetwood Mac! 🙂 I will let you know how it goes. 🙂
Today’s scripture:
Ezekiel 34:25-31The Message (MSG)
25-27 “‘I’ll make a covenant of peace with them. I’ll banish fierce animals from the country so the sheep can live safely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest. I’ll make them and everything around my hill a blessing. I’ll send down plenty of rain in season—showers of blessing! The trees in the orchards will bear fruit, the ground will produce, they’ll feel content and safe on their land, and they’ll realize that I am God when I break them out of their slavery and rescue them from their slave masters.
28-29 “‘No longer will they be exploited by outsiders and ravaged by fierce beasts. They’ll live safe and sound, fearless and free. I’ll give them rich gardens, lavish in vegetables—no more living half-starved, no longer taunted by outsiders.
30-31 “‘They’ll know, beyond doubting, that I, God, am their God, that I’m with them and that they, the people Israel, are my people. Decree of God, the Master:
You are my dear flock,
the flock of my pasture, my human flock,
And I am your God.
Decree of God, the Master.’”
This morning I am up before the sun. This is a little easier to do this time of year. Our days are shorter and shorter and it makes me more and more reflective. Right now I am the only one up in the house. I should make coffee but I am enjoying just this moment reading scripture while the world seems pretty quiet. Even the critters are still fast asleep in this house. Pretty soon, everyone will be up and moving. We have things to do today!
Tomorrow morning I will get up even earlier to prep for Sunday morning and I will get to go early to the church and be the only one in the church for about half an hour. I LOVE those moments.
These are the moments when I get to question everything and I start to lay out what I know. This morning, the prophet Ezekial shows a picture that God is showing him that lays it all out. God presents a picture of what will be so that we know God is present, without a doubt. This picture includes peace, good food, no slavery and a way of life that looks lovely for sheep and humans alike. This, this would mean that we would believe in God without doubt.
That sounds lovely. At this time in the morning, when the world is still and the sun is rising, I could get on board with that. I could get on board because I know the sun will rise. I know that the world will keep spinning. I know, without a doubt, that there will be community today. What else do I know? I know in my being that God is present but it is hard to prove beyond…I just know.
And I hate to say it, I will still have doubts today. When the world does start moving, and we get going, I will have doubts about how it all turns out. I will have doubts about why God lets certain things happen. I will have doubts about who I am in the world.
And because of who God is and what God promises, that will be ok and might even make my faith stronger. God knows that the people of God will still have doubt. It is why God keeps presenting the image of what a world without it looks like. It keeps us going and keeps us engaged with who God is.
God knows that the people of Israel will still mess up. They always do. Because they are human and trying to figure out this whole relationship with God thing. Sounds familiar to me.
And things will happen today and I know the sun will rise again tomorrow and God will still reassure me that God is still present and working for that safe picture. And if I look for God, I might glimpse that kingdom here on earth in some form in some moment. I will know for that little moment, that God is present without a doubt.
Where do you see God without a doubt today?
Living in Violet 