January 29, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 2, 54, 99
Genesis 15:1-11, 17-21
Hebrews 9:1-14
John 5:1-18

II. Selections
Psalm 2:9
" ...You shall break [ the nations] with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
[ The decree of the LORD]

Genesis 15:7
Then [ the LORD] said to [ Abram], "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess."

Hebrews 9:12
...[ Christ] entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

John 5:6
When Jesus saw [ the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years] lying there and knew that he had been there for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

III. Meditation: If we want to be made well

The world has been waiting for a long time to be made well.
Nation after nation has been broken with a rod of iron
and been dashed into pieces like a potter's vessel.

You brought up Abram from Ur of the Chaldeans;
you gave him land to possess, but still the world waited.
Then Christ entered into the Holy Place; the waiting is over,

if we want to be made well.