Salvation

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

  a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,

  of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

And he will destroy on this mountain

  the shroud that is cast over all peoples,

  the sheet that is spread over all nations;

He will swallow up death forever.

 Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,

  and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,

  for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day,

  Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

  This is the Lord for whom we have waited;

  let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. ~ Isaiah 25:6-9

Salvation for the Hebrew people was a very real, tangible idea.

It was freedom from oppression and slavery.

It was hope for a life lived with joy and promise.

It was also a hope for the future. For the ultimate salvation when God would right all the wrongs and the earth would once more be as God intended it to be.

it was a glorious image, this feast for the eyes, the mouth the soul.

And it was - is - meant for all peoples.

Sometimes I think we have a very narrow idea of salvation: as something meant for each of us personally.

But over and over God promises a different kind of salvation: a communal one.

God promises a time when all people will be one.

All tears will be dried.

Death will become inconsequential for all.

What would it be like if we looked at every person as the bearer of this promise from God? If we saw every person as one that God intends to - no, WILL - save?

What if we realized that as feast is not a feast if it is only for one.

That a feast is only a feast when we are all one.

Let me pull up a chair to your table, Lord, and clink a glass with everyone - every person - who sits there with me, knowing that this is the feast you have given us all. Amen