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<\/p>\nThe annual National Prayer Breakfast happened last Thursday. I don\u2019t know what happened or what was said, but I can\u2019t get this imagined picture from Facebook out of my mind. My sincere apologies . . .<\/p>\n
Once when I was the scheduled lector at church, the reading from the Jewish scriptures for the day was from Isaiah 58. The opening lines were<\/p>\n
SHOUT OUT, DO NOT HOLD BACK! LIFT UP YOUR VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET!<\/strong><\/p>\n Which I did, sort of\u2014as much as I dared to in church at 8:10 in the morning. What I\u2019m wondering today is what would happen if Isaiah had unexpectedly shown up at last week\u2019s Prayer Breakfast. He might have had a few things to say.<\/p>\n \u201cLadies and gentlemen, please welcome our keynote speaker, Isaiah, along with his \u2018contemporary language interpreter\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaiah: Thus says the Lord! Day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.<\/strong><\/p>\n You ask \u201cWhy do we fast, but you do not see? Why do we humble ourselves, but you do not notice?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.<\/strong><\/p>\n Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?<\/strong><\/p>\n Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.<\/strong><\/p>\n The annual National Prayer Breakfast happened last Thursday. I don\u2019t know what happened or what was said, but I can\u2019t get this imagined picture from Facebook out of my mind. My sincere apologies . . . Once when I was the scheduled lector at church, the reading from the Jewish scriptures for the day was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2938,"featured_media":19907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11,1169,20,1164,1119,30,35,40,57,75,76,77,92,579],"tags":[278,289,388,390,392],"class_list":["post-33788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attention","category-bible","category-bovina","category-change","category-enneagram","category-epiphany","category-ethics","category-faith","category-god","category-jesus","category-politics","category-power","category-prayer","category-suffering","category-technology","tag-isaiah","tag-jesus","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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