More Than Can Be Counted--Dec. 6, 2010

You have multiplied your wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us.
Truly, we should be grateful—especially when we compare our
situation with that of the multitudes who suffer deprivation.

But is our sense of peace and security in your largess misplaced?
Do you intend for us to have so much, and others so little?
Have we expanded until there is room for no one else?

Teach us to share, that we may be able to raise our heads before you;
to share for the sake of the world’s desperately poor and hungry;
to share because we have received more than can be counted.

Lectionary Readings
Psalms 122, 145, 40, 67
Isaiah 5:8-17
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Luke 21:20-28

Selected Verses
Psalm 40:5
You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
      your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
      none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
      they would be more than can be counted.

Isaiah 5:8
Ah, you who join house to house,
      who add field to field,
until there is room for no one but you,
      and you are left to live alone
      in the midst of the land!

1 Thessalonians 5:3
When [people] say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!

Luke 21:28
“…Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” [Jesus, presumably speaking to the disciples]