Yesterday, I was in a home dedicated to the care of those with advanced Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Sometimes when we are there, the residents are very engaged, and other times not. Yesterday was a kind of in the middle sort of day.
'And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
As I opened my Bible to find a suitable passage, I came across one of my favorites: "The Canticle of Zechariah", Luke 1:67-80, and decided to read part of it. I began at verse 76, "And you child, will be called the prophet of the Most High," After reading
it, I asked the residents to imagine that God was holding them as closely as Zechariah was holding that tiny baby, and to know that God believes in us every bit as much as Zechariah believed that his son, who would grow up to be John the Baptist, would be a great prophet for the Lord. My "plan" (I use that word loosely) was to finish with the encouragement that we are loved so much and held so closely that we can have the confidence to say thank you. That is pretty much what began to come out of my mouth, however before I finished, "we can have the confidence to say..."
the effervescent Maureen walked boldly into the room, looked directly at me, and announced,
just as
boldly, "I know you!"
Therefore, what
the people heard was
that we are loved so much that we can have the confidence to say, "I know you!" I had to pause a moment and let the power of that statement sink in. I thanked
Maureen and told her that she was absolutely right
. Yes, we are so held
so closely
that we can confidently say that we know God, and we know one another. She came over and gave me a big hug. That is what Maureen does.
I walk among the prophets. They tell me we know and we are known. Pass it on.
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
Luke 1:76-80
No comments:
Post a Comment