Isaiah 43: Promises of Redemption and Restoration
Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025
A Favorite from February 21, 2008.
We sing this hymn so often that these words of Isaiah are familiar to us . . . and they are so beautiful.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
Dear God in Heaven, we so many times feel so alone or abandoned. We think we have done what you have asked, but somehow things just are not working out. We feel as though we are sinking to the bottom of the sea.
When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown.
Dear God on Earth, we so many times know that we are called and, wanting to be good servants, we want to obey but we are frightened or anxious. We feel as though we are burning alive.
When you walk through fire, you will not be burned; the flames shall not consume you.
Dear God who dwells within, we so many times feel so apart from you as we do the work you have asked of us. We feel isolated and misunderstood. We want to come home to you.
I give . . . your ransom because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you.
Dear God who made us, we wander here on earth and long for the serenity and beauty of your Holy City on a Hill. We want to hear you clearly, we want to see you distinctly. We long to be with you.
I will say to the north; Give them up! and to the south: Hold not back! Bring back my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth: Everyone who is named as mine, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Lead out the people who are blind though they have eyes, who are deaf though they have ears.
Dear God who is tender, kind and loving, we are many times afraid to stand when you say stand, to sit when you say sit, to be still when you say be still, to speak when you say speak. We want to trust. We want to be authentic. We want to embody integrity.
Let them produce witnesses to prove themselves right, that one may hear and say, “It is true!” You are my witnesses, says the Lord, my servants whom I have chosen to know and believe in me and understand that it is I.
Dear God who is glorious, awesome, and all-knowing, we do not know how to begin, we do not know where to go.
Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland rivers. Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people who I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.
Dear God who walks among us, you have shown us The Way, the Truth and the Light. We will follow you. We will enter the desert to meet you . . . for we know that is where you are. We will sojourn among the jackals and the ostriches . . . for we know that is where you are. We will walk beside the humble . . . for we know that is where you are.
Fear not, I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.
Amen.
Find the hymn “Be Not Afraid” by John Michael Talbot, with video clips from the 1998 film The Prince of Egypt, at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI49peWG2d0
David Haas’ hymn “You Are Mine” is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgm9lkTNQmc
Image from: https://deepspirituality.com/do-not-be-afraid/
The Noontimes 