Isaiah 49:1-7  |  Psalm 71:1-14  |  1 Corinthians 1:18-31  |  John 12:20-36

What a responsibility! Throughout our time on earth, God has reached out to help us see, hear, feel, and know that love is the way to salvation and that we, in relationship with God, are here to light the way. Yet, our journey is not without struggle. When the peoples of Israel were exiled and filled with despair, Isaiah exhorted them to trust in the Lord, to remember that they are loved from the womb, to gather strength from God, and to be a light to all peoples and creation. The psalmist echoes this call to serve, again testifying to God’s knowledge of and love for us from our mother’s womb and giving us the strength to serve even when our own faith is challenged or threatened by forces both seemingly benign and evil.

Paul writes to the Corinthians about foolishness, wisdom and power, constructs that throughout time have clouded our vision and fueled individual needs for superiority and disdain for others. He challenges our understanding of what is wise or powerful, saying …

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.”

I love Paul’s faith — he reminds us that God is the substance of all things! When we despaired after 9-11, when COVID interrupted and changed our day-to-day lives, and now, as the world bears the unsettling events and threats of global war, there were/are forces that seek to exert their singular power and/or wisdom rather than seek peace and unity. However, God was and remains among those of us who come together in community and faith, trusting the wide-open embrace of God’s love to discover new ways to see, hear, and support each other – not just to restore our individual lives, but this amazing world that God loves so very much. 

In John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus reminding the disciples of who He is and how His life has prepared the way for us “to draw all people” to God. Again, what a responsibility… our journey continues! As I struggle with the horror of the crucifixion, I am reminded to look to the resurrection and the possibilities it promises for fulfilling Christ’s call for us to be an instrument of great things…to be children of the light.

Deborah Collins