When words are spoken and heard, something happens. Things that may have been a distant memory, or something we read once, come to life again when we hear them proclaimed. Maybe it’s that we hear it in a new way, pick up on a new detail, or the speaker emphasizes something different from what you would have emphasized.
In last Sunday’s gospel reading (Luke4:14-21), Jesus reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and then says, “Today, this scriptures has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
God is fulfilling God’s promises. The kingdom of God is breaking into the here and now. Jesus is ushering in God’s reign of reconciliation, release, wholeness, forgiveness, love, and life.
In and through you, this work is continuing. Part of what it means that this is fulfilled in your hearing is that when you have really heard, it leads to action. Words have the power to shape what we are and what we do. God’s Word in scripture and in the person of Christ creates something within us, opens us up to see and understand things in new ways – the ways that God sees them, and God’s Word empowers us to live out God’s promises helping to continue the fulfillment of God’s ongoing work of reconciling all things to God’s self.
What words from God through scripture, prayer, or conversation have stirred something within you recently?
What helps you listen more intently so that you can hear and understand what is being spoken to you?
How have words from worship continued to work on you this week? A line from a song you keep humming or singing? Words from a prayer you have offered again? The comfort and power that God’s grace and love and very presence are given “for you?” The proclamation that Jesus is about the work of releasing you from what holds you captive?
We return to worship, to scripture, to prayer, to the ongoing practices of faith and God’s words will once again stir us and begin and continue to be fulfilled in your hearing.
Blessings on your week,
Pastor Drew
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