Let Us Sing in Harmony…
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” Mark 1:2-3
The passage states Isaiah wrote the quote, but it is a mash-up from Exodus 23:20, Isaiah 40:3, and Malachi 3:1. Regardless, Mark used the three as a testimonial of the coming Christ event written in the ancient scriptures. I love that one is from the Torah, another from a prophet of the exile, and the last is a post-exilic prophet who is also the last voice we hear in the Old Testament. In other words, voices of the faithful from multiple centuries (13th, 6th, and 4th BCE) join forces to declare that the Messiah is coming and a forerunner will prepare his way. Tomorrow we will meet that forerunner. Today ponder the words.
Many voices from the centuries following the Christ event lift an unmistakable harmony to sing Christ’s praises. Let us join our voices in the chorus that includes the likes of Paul, Athanasius, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They sing that this great act of grace originates and is made efficacious through God’s decision alone. Let us tell the story through a great mash-up of declarations of faith in Him who changed our lives and still speaks to hearts today.
Lord Jesus,
We the faithful have tried to ponder the Imponderable; we the finite have attempted to describe the Infinite. Even though we are worlds and cultures and centuries apart, it is clear that your grace acted upon us and is the only thing that can save us from our helpless estate. Let me, again and again, return to this strange and wonderful truth, and may it spur on our call to serve the Author of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Lord, give me the voice to sing harmony with my sisters and brothers of the faith throughout the centuries!
And it is in the name of the Triune God of Grace that we pray. Amen!
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