isaiah i love you

Isaiah 58:7-12
“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

I haven't intentionally preached on the internet for a while, but I was inspired by Sharon's sermon at UPC on Sunday, and the stories from the Laos trip.

I am transfixed by the idea that by Living out Justice, we are healed. That it has nothing to do with how religious we think that we behave, what vocabulary we use, or what church we go to (or don't). It has everything to do with restoring humanity to one another: freeing the oppressed, sharing the dignity of food with people who are hungry, creating homes for/with people who have lost everything. Then, as sure as the sun rising every morning, THEN will our own redemption come.

And, somehow, this Christian faith claims, that in the midst of all the struggle and the pain, and the hurt, in this dehumanized isolated world, then all the sudden our lives will become clear. We will be restored when we are tired. We will become ever flowing, by entering into the most draining relationships. Isn't that ridiculous? and beautiful?

(I love The Message's Version too)

If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again

I am the luckiest girl in the world, sometimes. I get to live and work in this community at Romero House, and I get to see how these people LIVE that. I get to see lives made new, old ruins of tortured bodies renewed into full human beings (capable of giving and receiving love). I live in a community full of life, comprised of people who are defined by their individualized persecution and threatened status. People who have been rejected and attacked by their governments, paramilitary groups, husbands, and neighbors come together in this place, and create a livable community. And this brings me so much life. I am healed by their redemption. We give and receive one anothers gifts, and then, we are individually and communally healed.

Hey guess what y'all? I'm comin home to Fresno.

Why? because of Egypt. because of people doing what is right for their families and their neighbors. because of Christians guarding their Muslim brothers during prayer. because of nonviolence (mostly), and democracy in action.

because I listened to Sharon's sermon (heard here), and because there is so much love and strength in my home. And its my turn to be with the people whom i claim in my blood.