Today I led worship and preached at nearby Zion Lutheran Church in Baker, WV. The text I preached from is Isaiah 49:8-16 . I have two grown children. Though it now seems like a blur, I sometimes think about their early months of life. Everyone knows people who have such good babies . They don’t cry much, they just seem so happy. They sleep at night. I know those kinds of babies exist, but I didn’t have them. My firstborn, Sarah cried for the first 6 months of her life. She would be fed, dry, and seemingly have all her needs met…yet she would cry and cry and cry. After a while, I cried too. The only way to settle her down was to walk her. I walked and walked and walked. I felt like I would never sleep ever again or eat another meal in peace. Yet as my daughter, I wanted to do everything in my power to take care of her and let her know how much I cared about her. In our reading from Isaiah, we see God as a loving, caring, providing parent. I have to admit
“Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we are claimed, gathered, and sent for the sake of the world.” (Sent! by God's grace for the sake of the world, July 2006, "Global Missions Event." 5).