Immediate Word

What Kind Of Light?
Isaiah 49:1-7
By George Murphy

"I will give you as a light to the nations" God says to the servant of the Lord in the First Lesson for this coming Sunday, Isaiah 49:1-7. On Thursday following the day on which we hear this text, George W. Bush will be inaugurated for his second term, and questions will be asked about America's role in the world in the years ahead. The attempts during his first administration to spread American-style democracy in the world will come in for particular attention when the results of Iraqi elections become known a few days later. President Bush is not the first American, or the first president, to have thought of the United States as the light of the world. But what is the relationship between the mission announced in Isaiah and the mission of the United States -- or for that matter, of any nation?

(If some of the things that I say in the following seem naggingly familiar, it's probably because they are. I anticipated some of the ideas evoked by this week's Isaiah text in my Immediate Word comments last week.)

Is the figure pictured in the four servant songs of Second Isaiah (42:1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, 52:13--53:12) an individual or a corporate figure, a personification of the people of Israel? There has been a great deal of debate, scholarly and otherwise, about this question. (For some discussion see John L. McKenzie, Second Isaiah, Anchor Bible Vol. 20, Doubleday, 1981, pp. xxxviii--lv.) In this week's text the question of the servant's identity is complicated by the fact that the servant is addressed as "Israel" in verse 3 and is also said to have a mission to Israel in verse 6. (Whether or not "Israel" is part of the original text in verse 3 can be debated but the manuscript evidence is massively in its favor. See McKenzie, p. 104.)

The church very early understood some of these servant passages as referring to Jesus. I noted last week that the stories of Jesus' baptism seem to echo some of the language of the first servant song. Furthermore, Acts 13:47 interprets verse 6 of our text as a prophecy of the apostolic mission to proclaim Christ. I think that the correct answer to the question "Is the servant an individual or a corporate figure?" is "Yes." Israel is indeed called to be God's servant, to be God's light to the nations. That mission becomes focused in Jesus, the man of Israel, so that he can say that he is the light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5, and 12:46). But that isn't the end of the story, for Jesus then tells those gathered around him, "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). The Christian church is to carry on this mission to all people.

The latter statement, however, only makes sense if we presuppose something like Jesus' understanding of himself as the light of the world: His little group of disciples didn't have qualities in themselves which would qualify them for such a role. (Cf. Joachim Jeremias, The Sermon on the Mount, Fortress, 1963, pp. 24-33) But as people empowered by the Spirit of Christ and bearing the light of Christ, they did in fact go out to enlighten the world. It's quite clear from the New Testament that the church is called to a global mission. (And with due regard for the mythological language in Ephesians 3:10, perhaps we could even say a cosmic mission.)

Because of the quite explicit language in John and Matthew, Christians have generally understood Christ to be the light of the world and the Christian community then to be light in a derivative sense. In our present situation though, we -- and especially American Christians -- have to deal with some challenging questions. These arise from the fact that "light of the world" ideas have also gotten attached to the United States. Let me put it more bluntly: From its beginnings, America has been tempted to usurp the role of the Christian church.

This has not happened because of an opposition to Christianity or a belief that it is obsolete among most Americans. Things are more subtle than that. Because European settlement in America clearly was something new, and because many of the influential religious figures who came here were Christians who had distanced themselves to some extent from the larger catholic (small c) tradition, it was probably natural for them to see themselves as being the ones to whom the "light of the world" torch had been passed. With the founding of the United States, that idea could be associated with the new country as a political entity. (Take a look at the seal of the United States on the back of a dollar bill with its Latin motto Novus ordo seclorum, "A new order of the ages.")

Ronald Reagan's well-known description of the United States as "a shining city set on a hill" comes from Jesus' words in the second half of Matthew 5:14, "A city built on a hill cannot be hid." I already quoted the first half, "You are the light of the world." It is the followers of Jesus, the Christian community, which is to be the shining city on a hill. But President Reagan did not make that transfer on his own. It can be traced back to a sermon which the John Winthrop, soon to be the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, preached shortly before the arrival of the Puritans in 1630. It is one of the foundational images of the United States.

I'll give just one example of how this has worked out in American history. After the Spanish-American War of 1898 the United States was faced with the decision of what do about the Philippine Islands after American naval forces had destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila harbor. Should the country become a colonial power like European countries such as Spain, whose colonial policy in Cuba had provided the rationale for the war? Or should the Philippines immediately be given independence? There was a great deal of debate in the country. For our purposes, the most interesting aspect of it can be summarized in the following brief story from Julius W. Pratt, A History of United States Foreign Policy (Prentice-Hall, 1955), p. 386:

McKinley was, as is well-known, devoted to the interests of American business. He was also a religious man. Months after the decision had been reached to hold the Philippines, the president told a Methodist delegation at the White House that in answer to his earnest prayers for guidance the revelation had one night come to him that "there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died."

My purpose here isn't to criticize American colonial policy (which turned out to be more enlightened than those of European powers), to deal with the condescending character of McKinley's statement, or to treat it cynically as simply a cover for other motives. On the contrary, it's the fact that McKinley was quite sincere that's of interest. For he was speaking as the president of the United States, and by seeing the duty of "we" -- himself and his fellow citizens -- as being to "Christianize them," he was identifying the role of the United States with that of the Christian church!

(McKinley was also apparently ignoring the fact that the Roman Catholic Church had been present and active in the Philippines for over 300 years. The Christianizing mission of the United States was apparently to be a protestantizing one -- something American Roman Catholics at the time didn't fail to notice.)

Some Christians may be tempted to say, "So what's the problem?" There are obvious concerns about the First Amendment that this conflation of the roles of church and state introduces. But an even more fundamental point for Christians is that it compromises the Christian mission itself. Identification of Christianity and its proclamation of the Gospel with colonialism and imperialism -- whether political, economic, or both -- leads to suspicion of and opposition to the Christian mission. In the past week, Christian aid workers in predominantly Muslim Indonesia who are helping victims of the tsunamis have been warned about making their Christianity explicit. Of course there would be opposition to Christian evangelism by many Muslims in any case, but it's exacerbated by belief that Christian missionaries are tools of American foreign policy.

In this week that begins with the mission of the Servant of Yahweh and continues with the inauguration of a president who has strong views about the mission of the United States, a preacher could do worse than help her or his congregation make the necessary distinctions. There is nothing wrong with saying that God has a purpose for the United States in the world. There's nothing wrong with saying that of Canada, France, China, or any other nation either. The problem though is that we aren't very good at discerning those purposes, and lacking any divine revelation it's all too easy for us to identify them with our own purposes. And God's task for none of those nations is to be equated in a unique way with that of the servant, who is to be a light to all nations. America also needs to be enlightened.

There are also other issues connected with the Isaiah 49 text and Christian use of it. The servant is identified with Israel and has a mission to Israel as well as to the goyim, the nations. Christians tend to forget that there was considerable Jewish mission activity around the time of Jesus (see, e.g., Matthew 23:15). Gentile "God fearers" associated with synagogues in the Mediterranean world had been prepared for the apostolic message about Jesus, so that Christianity became a beneficiary of this Jewish outreach.

That raises the question of the relationship between the mission today of the Jewish people and of the Christian church -- part of the larger question of how Christians should understand the place of Judaism today theologically. A traditional view is that Judaism has simply been superseded by Christianity, so that if Jewish people don't accept Jesus then they're in essentially the same situation (or maybe worse!) than other non-Christians. This seems to me to fly in the face of what Paul says in Romans 11: "God has not rejected his people who he foreknew" (v. 2) and "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (v. 29). On the other hand, it's hard to see how the more politically correct idea that there is a kind of "two track" system in which salvation is available either through Judaism or Christianity can be coherent on more or less equal terms. Either Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world or he isn't. Jewish objections to Christian Trinitarian belief as inconsistent with the shem• of Deuteronomy 6:4 are either valid or they aren't.

I don't think that this is the place to try to "settle" this large and complex issue. Christians are not called to think that they know everything about how God is going to deal with Jewish believers or what God's ongoing tasks for the Jewish people may be. What we are called to do is to share the light of Christ by proclaiming him and acting as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15).

The same is true to some extent for other religions as well. We can't assume that God has no purpose for them or that God has not chosen to spread any light through them. On the other hand, the language of the New Testament doesn't allow us to assume that whatever light they may have is simply interchangeable with that of Christ. In inter-religious dialogue (just as in dialogue between different Christian communions) no favors are done if one party or the other pulls its punches and presents less than its fullest understanding of the truth. We are not called to dim our lights.

And to focus now just on the task given to Christians, how are we to be the light of the world? The commission to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19) means that at some point the gospel of Jesus Christ needs to be made explicit. But we also have to pay attention to what Jesus goes on to say in the Sermon on the Mount about being the light of the world: "Let your light so shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16, emphasis added). That means that we can be the light of the world by helping tsunami victims (for example) even if we don't say anything explicitly religious.

But that's not simply an excuse for saying nothing in situations in which we should speak about Christ. On the other hand, there are times when talk is out of place and we're called to help in other ways. That might be another approach for a sermon this week. We talk about bearing witness "in word and deed" but when are words called for and when is the appropriate time for deeds? Different Christians have abilities for being the light of Christ in different ways, and one of the things the church needs to do is to help them discern what their gifts are. (Cf. the lists of gifts in Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-10 and 28 -- which are not exhaustive.) This Sunday's gospel (John 1:29-42), in which John the Baptist, Jesus, and Andrew all act in slightly different ways to call people to discipleship could come in here.

Finally, the preacher might build a whole sermon around the image of light, which is pervasive in scripture. It runs from God's creation of light at the beginning of creation (Genesis 1:3) to the glory of God as the light of New Jerusalem and the Lamb as its lamp at the culmination (Revelation 21:23) and through many texts such as the ones we've already looked at in between. I once preached a kind of change of pace sermon consisting entirely of biblical "light texts" that told the whole story of salvation history. An accompanying children's sermon could use light as a way of talking about God, with a solar powered calculator or (in a slightly more sophisticated way) photosynthesis to convey the idea of the power of light. Use your imagination.


Team Responses

Carlos Wilton responds: It happens just before sunset, on every clear and cloudless night. As the sun dips below the horizon, a technician inside a huge, white dome on the outskirts of San Diego throws a switch. Powerful electric motors rumble and surge into life. Two massive doors -- each of them 100 feet tall and 125 tons in weight -- slowly separate from each other. The opening in the dome grows gradually larger, and one of the world's most powerful telescopes turns its eye to the heavens.

It's the Mount Palomar Observatory, a legendary place in the field of astronomy. But Mount Palomar is becoming less legendary as the years go by. Its telescope is far less useful to astronomers than it once was.

It's not the telescope that's the problem. The Mount Palomar telescope is still state-of-the-art, one of the best in the world. The problem is what the astronomers call "light pollution." As greater San Diego has continued to expand, the light from thousands of streetlights and spotlights has come to interfere with its famous observatory. No longer can Mount Palomar astronomers gaze through their telescope and pick out bright points of light against a sky of inky black. The stars are not so visible as they once were -- and so the real action in the field of astronomy has shifted to more remote locations (and to satellites circling the earth, like the Hubble Space Telescope).

The prophet Isaiah knew nothing of light pollution. What light his culture's technology was able to generate was feeble at best: a campfire, a torch, maybe a small oil lamp. Even in the middle of Jerusalem, you could step outside any door at night, look up, and lose yourself in the vastness of the stars. A brightly blazing beacon on a hill would have caught the attention of anyone stepping outdoors on a moonless night.

Maybe the church's problem today -- why we find it so hard to communicate a distinctive witness -- is that there are so many other, competing sources of light. These light sources are not God's true light, of course, but they dazzle the eyes all the same. The church cannot compete against self-help gurus, twelve-step organizations, social-reform movements, educational institutions, or service organizations. There's nothing wrong with most of these organizations or movements. They are not the enemy. Very often their mission, in seeking to help people, is parallel to the church's mission (if not overlapping ours in places). But these are lesser lights. We need to find ever more effective ways to shine forth the beacon we have been charged to keep forever blazing: Jesus Christ, Savior of the world.

As for the nation -- as you so eloquently remind us, George -- that, too, is a lesser light. Sometimes, in their patriotic fervor, some of our national leaders forget that. They lose perspective. They look to the nation to redeem, to save. This misplaced devotion can happen on both sides of the political aisle -- for it matters little whether the leaders in question are looking to guns or butter for salvation, they will not find it in such lesser causes.


Related Illustrations

We are a nation under God. I've always believed that this blessed land was set apart in a special way, that some divine plan placed this great continent here between the oceans to be found by people from every corner of the Earth who had a special love for freedom and the courage to uproot themselves, leave homeland and friends, to come to a strange land.
-- Ronald Reagan, 1984

***

This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind.... That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it.
-- George W. Bush, responding to the terrorist attacks of 2001

***

A Gallup Poll this month (March, 2003) found that 60 percent of Americans who say religion is very important in their lives supported military action against Iraq.

By contrast, among those who said religion is not very important, only 49 percent supported the war.

For those who see American civilization as superior, there is "quite often more readiness to exert ourselves in the world," said William R. Hutchison, a professor of the history of religion in America at Harvard University.

Nearly half of Americans (48 percent) said they think the United States has had special protection from God for most of its history, according to a poll a year ago by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Four in 10 took the opposite view.

That belief is strongest among white evangelical Protestants, a group that makes up about a quarter of the nation's population.... Among that group, 71 percent said in the Pew center poll that they think the United States has special divine protection. Among white non-evangelical Protestants and Catholics, only four in 10 took that position.
-- Larry B. Stammer, "Religion a Strong Current in U.S. Wars," Los Angeles Times, 3/29/03

***

It is precisely when every earthly hope has been explored and found wanting, when every possibility of help from earthly sources has been sought and is not forthcoming, when every recourse this world offers, moral as well as material, has been drawn on and expended with no effect, when in the shivering cold every log has been thrown on the fire, and in the gathering darkness every glimmer of light has finally flickered out -- it is then that Christ's hand reaches out, sure and firm, that Christ's words bring their inexpressible comfort, that his light shines brightest, abolishing the darkness for ever.
-- Malcolm Muggeridge, "A Twentieth-Century Pilgrimage"

***

In the old days, on Easter night, the Russian peasants used to carry the blest fire home from church. The light would scatter and travel in all directions through the darkness, and the desolation of the night would be pierced and dispelled as lamps came on in the windows of the farm houses, one by one. Even so the glory of God sleeps everywhere, ready to blaze out unexpectedly in created things. Even so his peace and his order lie hidden in the world, even the world of today, ready to re-establish themselves in his way, in his own good time: but never without the instrumentality of free options made by free men.
-- Thomas Merton, quoted in "Your Daily Dig" from www.bruderhof.com, 4/10/04

***

"... in His light we see the light and in this light our own darkness."
-- Karl Barth writing about Jesus Christ, in Dogmatics in Outline (London: SCM, 1949), p. 67

***

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.... The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963

***

A people in darkness: let me add a personal word here. This phrase touched me directly when in 1945 we were driven in endless and desolate columns into the prisoner-of-war camps, the sticks of the guards at our sides, with hungry stomachs and empty hearts and curses on our lips. But many of us then, and I was one, glimpsed the light that radiates from the divine child. This light did not allow me to perish. This hope kept us alive.

A people in darkness: today I see before me the millions of the imprisoned, the exiled, the deported, the tortured and the silenced everywhere in the world where people are pushed into this darkness. The important point is not the nations, which can be accused of these things. What is important is the worldwide brotherhood of the men and women who are living in darkness. For it is on them that this divine light now shines.

Peoples in darkness: how that cries out today from the Third World in Africa and Asia, and from the Third World in our own country - cries out for liberation and human rights! The struggle for power and for oil and for weapons ruins the weak, enriches the wealthy, and gives power to the powerful. This divided world is increasingly capable of turning into a universal prison camp. And we are faced with the burning question: on which side of the barbed wire are we living, and at whose cost? The people in darkness sees the great light. To this people -- to them first of all -- the light shines in all its brightness. To these people the child is born, for the peace of us all. Do we belong to this people, or do we cling to our own lights, our fortune-tellers and our own interpreters of the signs of the times, people who tell us what we want to hear, from Nostradamus and astrological calendars down to the learned interpreters of the laws of history? ...

All the images the prophet uses to paint the possible future point to one fact: the birth of the divine child. The burning of the weapons, the jubilation and the great lights are all caught up in the birth of God's peace-bringer. They are all to be found in him.
-- J¸rgen Moltmann, commenting on Isaiah 9:2-6, in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas, Plough Publishing House, 2001

***

Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
-- John Cardinal Newman


Worship Resources
By George Reed

MUSIC

N.B. All copyright information is given from the first cited place where found. Some copyright information may differ in other sources due to adaptations, etc.

Hymns:

"Christ, Whose Glory Fills The Skies"
WORDS: Charles Wesley, 1740
MUSIC: J. G. Werner's Choralbuch, 1815; harm. By William H. Havergal, 1861
(c) public domain
as found in:
UMH: 173
Hymnal '82: 6, 7
LBOW: 265
TPH: 462, 463

"Lord, You Give The Great Commission"
WORDS: Jeffery Rowthorn, 1978
MUSIC: Cyril V. Taylor, 1941
Words (c) 1978 Hope Publishing Co.; Music (c) 1970 Hope Publishing Co.
as found in:
UMH: 584
Hymnal '82: 528
TPH: 429
CH: 459

"Pass It On"
WORDS: Kurt Kaiser, 1969
MUSIC: Kurt Kaiser, 1969
(c) 1969 Communique Music, Inc.
as found in:
UMH: 572
TNNBH: 417
CH: 477

"We've A Story To Tell To The Nations"
WORDS: H. Ernest Nichol, 1896
MUSIC: H. Ernest Nichol, 1896
(c) public domain
as found in:
UMH: 569
AAHH: 416
CH: 484

"This Little Light Of Mine"
WORDS: Afro-American Spiritual
MUSIC: Afro-American Spiritual; adapt. By William Farley Smith, 1987
adapt (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
as found in:
UMH: 585
AAHH: 549
TNNBH: 511
TNCH: 524, 525

"I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light"
WORDS: Kathleen Thomerson, 1966
MUSIC: Kathleen Thomerson, 1966
(c) 1970, 1975 Celebration
as found in:
UMH: 206
Hymnal 1982: 490

Songs:
"We Are His Hands"
WORDS: Mark Gersmehl
MUSIC: Mark Gersmehl; arr. J. Michael Bryan
(c) 1984, 1996 Bug and bear Music
as found in:
CCB : # 85

"Shine, Jesus, Shine
WORDS & MUSIC: Graham Kendrick
(c) 1987 Make Way Music
as found in:
CCB : # 81

"We Are Marching In The Light Of The Lord"
WORDS & MUSIC: Zulu Traditional Song; arr. Hal H. Hopson
(c) 1984 by Utyck
as found in:
Renew: # 306

"Send Us Out"
WORDS & MUSIC: John Michael Tolbot
(c) 1984 Birdwing Music/Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co., Inc.
as found in:
Renew: # 304

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: God is light and goodness
People: All praise to God who is light.
Leader: God's light has been given to us.
People: All praise to God who is our light.
Leader: God has given us as a light to the world.
People: We will share God's light with all creation.
Leader: The light of God shall never go out.
People: Thanks be to God!

COLLECT/OPENING PRAYER

O God who is light and love and wisdom: Grant to us, your people, eyes to see the light you shed on our paths and the will to share your light with all your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

OR

God of light and love, we praise you for your greatness and for your love that brings your light into our lives. We thank you for being with us in our journey through the darkness. We ask that you would give us the will to be faithful to our calling to share your light with others. Give us humility to remember that it is your light, not ours. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

PRAYERS OF CONFESSION/PARDON

Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our failure to be the light for the world.
People: O God of light and glory, we have freely received your light so that we might have life that is full and abundant. Yet we have failed to share that light with others either in our words or in our actions. In the midst of your people we have talked of great events and trivial things but have avoided speaking of our faith. In our dealings as a congregation we have failed to act with grace and care, working only to get our own way. We have squandered our money on luxuries while some people starve for food and others starve for the Truth. Forgive us and so fill us with your own Spirit that we may truly be the light of the world. Amen.
Leader: Know that God does not despise the spoiled vessel but reworks it so that it may be useful. In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven and commissioned to share his light with your neighbors and the world.

GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.

Glory and honor and power are yours by right, O God, for you alone are the Creator of all that is and was and ever shall be. From you we have received light for our physical eyes and with it we enjoy the beauty of your creation. Through the light of your Spirit, we have received that which enlightens our hearts and minds so that we may know you and ourselves. As your people we have received the ministry of sharing your light with others as it plays out in our own lives. You have truly gifted us.

(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)

We confess, O God, that we have not used your gifts as you intended. We have looked at the world not with awe and wonder but with greed and selfishness. We have ignored your light and walked toward death in the darkness. We have hoarded your light as a sign of our being better than others rather than sharing it with them. Forgive us our blindness and our sin. Open our eyes and our hearts to your great light. By the power of your Spirit, make us what we are, your children, the bearers of your light.

We give you thanks for all those who shared your light with us. Some of them we can name and remember his or her acts and words. Others have quietly and faithfully shared your light with us and we were unaware of what they we doing and yet the light shone on us. We give you thanks for the unnamed ones through history who have told your story and shared your presence with others so that some day it might be given to us.

(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)

We pray for those in darkness, including ourselves. As you seek to share your light and love with all creation, grant us the joy of being a part of that sharing. Make us sensitive to the darkness in lives of others and give us courage to be your light to and for them.

(Other petitions may be offered.)

All these things we ask in the Name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father...."

HYMNAL & SONGBOOK ABBREVIATIONS

UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition
Renew: Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship


Children's Sermon

Come and see

Object: a party invitation

Based on John 1:29-42

I just love parties, don't you? What are some parties people have? (get responses) Birthdays, graduations, weddings, Valentine's Day, Christmas -- there are lots of different kinds of parties. (show your invitation) People might use cards like this one to invite people to a party. This is an invitation. It lets people know all about the party and asks them to come join in.

After Jesus was baptized, he began to do his work. He had a lot to do and a lot to teach people before he died, so he needed people to help him. People began to tell stories about amazing things they had seen Jesus do. Some people even approached Jesus and wanted to know more about him. When they'd ask him, Jesus would invite them to follow him and learn more by being with him. He'd say, "Come and see." He invited them to spend time with him.

Eventually, Jesus had lots of people following and wanting to know more about him. They would listen to him teach and watch him perform incredible miracles. He told the most amazing stories, and he fixed all kinds of problems. He made the blind see, he helped the lame to walk, and he healed the sick of their illnesses. One time he even fed over 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus said and did incredible things, and everywhere he went he invited people to follow and learn more about him.

You and I have received an invitation to follow Jesus, too. Even today, Jesus invites us to come and see who he is and what he's doing in the world. He has so much to teach us about God and his love. All we have to do is accept his invitation and we can be part of the greatest party in the world.

Prayer: Jesus, you want us to come and see the amazing things you are. Give us the courage to accept your invitation. Amen.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Immediate Word, January 16, 2005 issue.

Copyright 2005 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.

All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 458