Remembering

The people are exiled in Babylon, their capital city and Temple destroyed. The prophet Isaiah has offered them assurance that they are not abandoned by God. In yesterday’s first reading the message was: your trials are not without purpose – it is a time for you to remember the choices that brought these troubles into your lives but also to remember that God is both just and compassionate. The prophet assures them that their hardship will end; they will be restored.

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John’s Instructions

7 He said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance; and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7–9) Continue reading