Develop a Dangerous Unselfishness

10th
Isaiah 1:10-16-20
10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 16 wash and make yourselves clean.Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. [a] Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Oh Isaiah! One is tempted to say - Oh Prophet of Doom! But then wait! Somehow the dire descriptions of the evils of an ancient society seem all too familiar. Seem all too apt. Here we are again, after 3000 years. Greed and selfishness and heartlessness have risen up and unbalanced our country. "Eat what you kill" is the playful mantra of young stockbrokers. Isaiah is clear "thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards."But is Isaiah speaking to US? What are we to do, caught as we are in this crisis not of our doing? Do we turn away and hunker down around our families, each on our own little life-raft? Fifty years ago the great Christian mystic Thomas Merton taught "Alienation is our great crisis... We have forgotten that of all creation, only human beings possess awareness of self. We are therefore responsible for being the caretakers of all the rest of creation, whether it be other humans or animals or 'the great globe itself'.'" He goes on Isaiah-like " we are all guilty bystanders. We have all helped to create this violence.' In order to make peace we ought to be willing to do what soldiers do - to offer our lives." Offer our lives as Isaiah says to those who are outcast, people without safety, protection, family or friends, home or shelter. To turn to love for our strength and leave behind the temptations of our own needs and fears. To trust in the God that Isaiah describes as passionately concerned with the welfare of our world. who doesn't turn His back on us but speaks to us through his powerful prophets, through His own Son. Who reassures us through His wrath that justice does exist, and He wants us to fight for it. That Love transforms and we can be the transformers. –Ann Calabresi


Practice – Today, develop a dangerous unselfishness. Give something away you normally hold close.