Kristofer and “Be Glad and Rejoice Forever in What I am Creating”
“Be Glad and Rejoice Forever in What I am Creating”
Today Kristofer reflects on the passage for the day from the prophet Isaiah and God’s declaration: “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth” (65:17). As a parish and community center in these intense pandemic times, God is clearly doing a new thing in our midst. Do you ever wonder about what all this will look like? Do you ever miss what once was? As we seek faithfulness and trust in the Lord in these uncertain challenging times, we are being led forward toward a new vision of life together. This means letting go of what we once thought we had and being ready to embrace what is to come. In the weeks and months ahead we will discover new opportunities to serve God and we will be changed by the possibilities. As a congregation and community center, may we be created anew and become a joy and delight for God in ways we can’t even begin to imagine.
Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.
