Thoughts for the Day

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Day 4 of Lent leads us to look at some words from Isaiah about the disconnection between people and God. We have looked at the question of whether there were one, two, or even three Isaiah's in the past, and my own feeling is there were probably two, who lived 700 to 800 years before Christ. What always strikes me as amazing though is the continuity of the message, whether it's spoken to those who lived in Judah (and/or Babylon) or by Jesus to the people who flocked to him in Galilee.

Isaiah highlights the disconnection between people's outward displays of piety and the lack of genuine compassion and justice for others. He begins by speaking about the kind of fasting that God desires. Tue fasting should be accompanied by acts of kindness and compassion towards others. True fasting is about sharing food with the hungry, providing shelter for the homeless, and giving clothing to the naked. It challenges the idea that religious rituals alone are sufficient for God.

700 years later Jesus was to commend the poor widow who gave all that she had to God's work, and to criticise those Pharisees who paraded their giving before others. Isaiah and Jesus both paint a picture of the kind of worship and lifestyle that pleases God.

During Lent our rituals should not diminish necessarily. If we wish to fast or eat fish on a Friday, or attend more services in church that is great, but it is just as important that we look outward to show our love and compassion to others, as quietly as we can!

Father-God.
we ask Your help in turning our lives around, this Lent.
May our worship and our ritual
be accompanied by compassion for others,
and may our requests to You be accompanied by our actions.
in the world.
Amen.