Saturday, March 21, 2015

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Isaiah 42:1

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
   my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.

Our hope

The Spirit of God’s Holy Presence is gentle and strong, tender to the weak, challenging to the oppressor and a word of hope for we who hunger to see and know God in our lives.
We see the Spirit of the Holy One in the lives of those who know how to love, how to give from their heart.

We know God not in acts of power that protect us from the normal troubles of life, but in the lives of those who lift the hearts of those beaten down by disease, prejudice and forces of history they cannot control. We see the Spirit in those who seek justice for those denied the blessings God intends for every human soul.

They radiate the beauty of God. They give hope where it is failing. They are a light amid the darkness that sometimes engulfs human hearts.

The Spirit is the presence of the Love God is, healing broken hearts and standing with those oppressed.

There is a new atheism taking hold in western nations that rejects God as unreal. But the god they reject is not the God we meet Isaiah, the One who sends his servant to bring freedom to an enslaved people and who tenderly cares for the weak.

They do not see Jesus as that Spirit-filled servant of the One who refuses to pay back evil for evil, but who loves amid the forces of rejection. This God is God, our hope.


Pr. David L. Miller

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Monday, March 16, 2015

Luke 22:19

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’

For you

I feel your heart, Jesus, and more than anything I want all who are near to feel it, too.

It happens most every week. I hold high the loaf and repeat your words. “This is my body … broken … for you.” Some days I can barely say them as tears of knowing fill my eyes.

I know you as the words cross my lips and I break the bread. If I should be so bold, I feel what you felt. I know your desire. I know what you wanted your friends to know: “This is my life, my love, yes … the infinite love of God … for you.

“It is my delight and deepest desire to give you this life. I want you to break bread, remember and know … there is a Love who always wants you, always treasures you, a Love who has known you since before the birth of time. Always know.

“Oh, you will forget. You will get lose yourself in the details of living. You will know hurt and shame and disappointment and begin to doubt that my love is real. You will fail me … and yourself. Sometimes, you will feel lost and a million miles from me. And the deep desires of your heart will not always come true, perhaps not ever.

“But even then, especially then … hear my words, receive this bread … and know what is in my heart … for you.”


Pr. David L. Miller