April 09, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 9, 99, 118
Exodus 19:16-25
Colossians 1:15-23
Matthew 3:13-17

II. Selections
I. Readings
Psalm 99:8
O LORD our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Exodus 19:17
Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

Colossians 1:15
[ The beloved Son] is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation ...

Matthew 3:16
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

III. Meditation: Meeting you

Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet you.
They took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
They experienced you as a God of forgiveness,
but nevertheless a God who avenged wrongdoing.
We are privileged to meet you through a gentler image;

for we know you through Jesus,
the one you called your beloved,
who came up from Jordan water
to see the heavens open to him
and the Spirit dove descending.