Day 6 -- It IS Practice for Eternity

"On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, 'Behold this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.'" Isaiah 25:6-9

Love and forgiveness. Sure. God in Jesus commands us to these things. But do you know that there is a logic to it...a relational rationale that makes sense long term? If the nature of God is love, and that love undergirds all the created order, and if that love is drawing us to a single inexorable conclusion, that will ABOUND in love, then paying attention to it now makes absolute sense.

In Isaiah's vision for the end of this world, and the beginning of God's new creation, all the nations of the world are drawn to God's holy mountain...the physical symbol of God's earthly power and presence where there will be FEAST that is unsurpassed in all of history. This FEAST is important. In the ancient mideaster cultures that surrounded the author and the cultural imagery that shaped how they saw and interacted with the world, the table and the breaking of bread was a sign of shalom, of peace between neighbors, even if they be strangers. When enemies broke bread together they became family. When bread was broken between conflicted clans, a new truce and peace were struck.

The table, biblically, is a SIGN of God's love and forgiveness. It is how you and I interact with God's shalom for creation. This is why we do communion on a weekly basis. It's not because we individually need forgiveness. It's because we as God's people need to be reminded that the outcome of our broken world IS NOT a nuclear holocaust, but a world reconciled in peace and forgiveness, where the forces of death and shame will no longer have the last word.

So we forgive today, and we love today because it matters. It matters for our relationships and our community today. And it matters for our relationships and our community in eternity. The enemies that we have? We will be breaking bread with them on that holy mountain. The death we fear? It will be swallowed up for them just as surely as it will be swallowed up for you or me.

It turns out that our God really IS in the business of restoration. Which is just another way of saying that he's in the business of love.

And you and I are his people...formed in community by the love of his son Jesus in a cross and alkali tomb.

Today, may you find the power of Christ's love flowing through you and into your relationships and world!

Pastor Nathan