Friday, December 11, 2009

Luke 1:68-79

68“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
   for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
69He has raised up a mighty savior for us
   in the house of his servant David,
70as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
   and has remembered his holy covenant,
73the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
   to grant us 74that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
   might serve him without fear, 75in holiness and righteousness
   before him all our days.
76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
   for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77to give knowledge of salvation to his people
   by the forgiveness of their sins.
78By the tender mercy of our God,
   the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

    
John Wesley referred many times to verse 79. Here is one reference from his sermon, The One Thing Needful:

“How great reason is there, then, even in the Christian world, to resume the Apostle’s exhortation, ‘Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead! Hath not Christ given thee light? Why then sittest thou still in the shadow of death? What slumber is this which hangs on thy temples? Knowest thou not that only one thing is needful? What then are all these? Why hath any but that the least place in thy thoughts, the least share in thy affections? Is the entertainment of the senses the one thing needful? Or the gratifying the imagination with uncommon, or great, or beautiful objects? Our Lord saith not so. Saith he then that the one thing is to acquire a fortune, or to increase that thou hast already? I tell you, Nay: these may be the thoughts of those that dream, but they cannot be those of waking men. Is it to obtain honour, power, reputation, or (as the phrase is) to get preferment? Is the one thing to gain a large share in that fairest of the fruits of earth, learning? No. Though any of these may sometimes be conducive to, none of them is, the one thing needful. That is simply to escape out of the snare of the devil, to regain an angelical nature; to recover the image wherein we were formed; to be like the Most High. This alone, is the one end of our abode here; for this alone we are placed on the earth; for this alone did the Son of God pour out his blood; for this alone doth his Holy Spirit watch over us. One thing we have to do, to press towards this mark of the prize of our high calling; to emerge out of chains, diseases, death, into liberty, health, and life immortal!”

How’s your journey toward the image of G*D going for you? Have you been trying to arrive without your Neighbor?

To paraphrase Karl Marx: “Let the church institutional tremble at a Wesleyan revolution. The laity have nothing to lose but their chains. They have liberty, health and life to win. Images of G*D in all countries, unite!”