Today, we look at a Day 4 text from this year’s summer curriculum, “From Generation to Generation.”
Prayer: Naming God, you know your people and call them by name. When we struggle to see your ways in the world, call us by name and draw us into the life you have to offer. This we pray through your Son, Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Amen. Reading: Isaiah 43:1-3a (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: There used to be this joke in my family growing up that my dad could only ever remember something if someone said his name before relaying any pertinent information. Any time my mom would remind him of something he’d clearly forgotten, he’d glibly ask in return: “Well, did you say my name first?” Just like Destiny’s Child tried to tell us, there’s power in being addressed by name. Hearing our own names called out draws our attention in ways that other greetings simply can’t. Have you ever heard your name mentioned across a busy room and immediately wondered what that conversation is encompassing? Have you ever heard your name exclaimed from a distance and felt the shot of adrenaline run through you at what possibility requires such urgency? Have you ever heard your name expressed by a loved one and felt the warmth of familiarity that comes with it? Being called by name carries a power that other means of communication simply can’t convey. Just this past week, many of us heard that power held by the risen Christ as he meets Mary outside the tomb. In her confusion in the face of the empty tomb, Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener until he calls her by name. Only then, when she hears her name called by the one who knows her, does she understand that new life has taken root! But God has always worked like this! “But now thus says the LORD,” relays Isaiah, “he who created you, O Jacob: he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” In the face of uncertainty and trepidation, God calls out the names of the nation to remind them that they are claimed and cared for, they have been named by the God who will not abandon them. Listen up, O Jacob! Hear this, O Israel! The God who knows you and calls you by name has claimed you! Let the reminder claim you as well! The God who claims the people by name, the risen Jesus who gifts new life by, this is the same who calls your name as well. So fill in the blank below and remember that this is the God who loves and calls you in the same ways. The God who created you, ___________________, has redeemed you. You have been called by name. You are indeed God’s! ~ Justin Lingenfelter
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