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The Gift of God’s Deliverance

December 30, 2024

Isaiah 25:1-9|Revelation 1:9-20|John 7:53-8:11

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) is a non-partisan research organization that publishes an annual Global Peace Index. In 2024 IEP reports that 92 nations are actively engaged in conflicts beyond their borders. Stretching from Ukraine to Syria to Gaza to Yemen, Afghanistan the Sudan and the Republic of Congo, IEP reports that the extent of death, destruction and human suffering resulting from warfare exceeds anything documented since the height of World War II.

Today’s reading from Isaiah evokes images of nations engulfed in brutal violence: For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. And yet, the thrust of Isaiah’s message is one of hope and comfort as God’s grace promises to deliver us from human suffering: When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.

Just yesterday, in celebrating the “First Sunday After Christmas” we were again blessed with the wisdom of Isaiah in our Old Testament reading:

The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.

And so, we pray: Loving God, through your saving grace we ask you to keep safe your people who live in the shadows of war, civil unrest, and the threat of terrorism. Inspire those in positions of authority to choose the path of peace, in accordance with your teachings. All this we ask, in your holy name, Amen.

Mike Grady