Abide in the Son and the Father--April 15, 2021

You make the mountains low, the valleys high;

the crooked straight, the rough places smooth.

 

Silver, gold, iron, bronze—all fail like clay;

nothing is forever, everything has an end.

 

Wild bulls are destroyed, warriors defeated;

but your salvation is certain; you will abide.

 

You will abide, the Son and the Father,

and we will abide in you.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 47; 147:12-20; 68; 113

Dan. 2:31-49

1 John 2:18-29

Luke 3:1-14

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 68:30

Rebuke the wild animals that live among the reeds,
          the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample under foot those who lust after tribute;
          scatter the peoples who delight in war.

 

Dan. 2:45

“…just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.  …”  [Daniel, to King Nebuchadnezzar]

 

1 John 2:24

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.  If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. 

 

Luke 3:5-6

“‘…Every valley shall be filled,
          and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
          and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

[from Isaiah, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness]