Isaiah 56:1-8

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Isaiah 56:1-8

Thus says the LORD: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. 2Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil. 3 Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and do not let the eunuch say, "I am just a dry tree." 4For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 5I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant 7these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 8Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

Think

Maintain justice, and do what is right... To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, ... and the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD...

The Lord does not belong to me, or my congregation, my diocese, my church - but to the Church at large is the Lord.  His justice endures beyond all things.  Beyond all divisions which we might create in our little lives.  The justice of the Lord does not depend on distinctions. 

Yesterday in the course that I teach there was a highly energized discussion centering around the simplified Natural Law Theory which comes through St Tomas' Aquinas' Summa Teologica.  The question centered around procreation as a natural inclination and one of the students assessed that this theory was homophobic.  I took pause at this and realized that it could be and has been interpreted this way.  Another student said yes it may be but it is also anti-barren women or sterile men who are unable to procreate.  I again took pause and thought this could be seen as true as well.  Finally I remembered what it is that I actually believe, and what the nature of procreation in my understanding is- pro-creation is that which is in favor of continuing the creation which God has given us, there are those who are called to raise plants and animals and there are those who are called to raise children.  There are those who are called to care for the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and the very rocks need to be cared for and all of this is essential to maintain life as we know it in this world. 

So today when I read in Isaiah that Eunuchs are not excluded from Justice and foreigners are brought to the Holy Mountain of God I am comforted to know that the Lord is not only pro-Israel, but pro-creation as well, in all forms.  In all ways the Lord asks us to seek justice and maintain it.

Pray

In a world where justice is the equivalent to fairness, help us to remember that there is  more to justice than equal distribution of wealth.  Remember me Lord as the outsider who struggles with adoption and the eunuch who cannot participate in creation in the same way as the sons and daughters of the Son of Man.  Help me to remember that all are invited to the table to receive the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, not just those who look like me, believe like me, behave like me but everyone recieves grace in equally undeserved manners.  Amen

Contemplate

10 minutes centering prayer