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I WILL GATHER THEM

TEXT

Isaiah 56:1-8 The Message
GOD’s Message:
“Guard my common good:
Do what’s right and do it in the right way,
For salvation is just around the corner,
my setting-things-right is about to go into action.
How blessed are you who enter into these things,
you men and women who embrace them,
Who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,
who watch your step and don’t do anything evil!
Make sure no outsider who now follows GOD
ever has occasion to say,
‘GOD put me in second-class.
I don’t really belong.’
And make sure no physically mutilated person
is ever made to think,
‘I’m damaged goods.
I don’t really belong.'”

For GOD says:

“To the mutilated who keep my Sabbaths
and choose what delights me
and keep a firm grip on my covenant,
I’ll provide them an honored place
in my family and within my city,
even more honored than that of sons and daughters.
I’ll confer permanent honors on them
that will never be revoked.

“And as for the outsiders who now follow me,
working for me, loving my name,
and wanting to be my servants—
All who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,
holding fast to my covenant—
I’ll bring them to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
They’ll be welcome to worship the same as the ‘insiders,’
to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices to my altar.
Oh yes, my house of worship
will be known as a house of prayer for all people.”
The Decree of the Master, GOD himself,
who gathers in the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather others also,
gather them in with those already gathered.”

READ

So to us
Today
Christ gives eternal life,—
He Who was crucified,
And triumphed,
Through the Power of Love.
Our Lord is in our hearts
And flesh and blood,
Helping us always.

Why should we speak
Of “Christianity”
As though it were
Dead doctrine?
Jesus is not dead;
Still as of old,
He seeks His sheep.

The Christ is everywhere:—
The lepers find Him
In their dark despair;
He shines in the grey dawn
Beyond the dungeon bars;
And by our death beds
He is there!

Children of Japan,
Dumb in defeat,
Struggling to live,
Wipe, wipe away your tears,
Look at the living Christ;
He stands
Here at your side.

—Toyohiko Kagawa (1888-1960)
Interpreted by Lois J. Erickson
from “The Living Christ” in Songs from the Land of Dawn
(New York: Friendship Press, 1949)

 

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

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