All Means All
Sunday March 20, 2022
Created by Lauren Cubberley
Isaiah 55:1–9 (NIV)
55 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Devotion
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…” When I first read this passage, I recognized it immediately, because everytime I go to a Capital University Chapel Choir concert, I hear them sing almost this exact verse in “Come to the Water”: “O let all who thirst Let them come to the water.” I feel a sense of comfort when I hear the Chapel Choir Sing this, like I am exactly where I am meant to be in that moment of time.
The song continues on with, “And let all who have nothing Let them come to the Lord.” Notice that the lyrics (or Bible passage) do not say, “O let all who are well-hydrated Let them come to the water” or “And let all who have everything Let them come to the Lord.” Rather, it says all who are thirsty and all who have nothing. These people are often the people society classifies as the “others,” the people who they believe do not deserve to live a “full life.” When in fact, that is exactly the opposite of what God is telling us. Those who have everything are surely invited to God’s loving embrace, but our God is not an exclusionary God. All are welcome to be God’s full, ever-loving, ever-lasting presence.
Often, our spaces and places of worship do not mirror this idea. When someone who does not look like the congregation comes in for Sunday morning worship, we stare. When spaces are not accessible to those who use wheelchairs, we hope they’ll figure out how to get in. But is that what God is really calling us to do? We can say all we want that all are welcome, but until we actually show and do something to extend that welcome, then God’s intended message is not being delivered to their intended audience.
Prayer
Sustaining Spirit, you hovered over the waters of creation and hover still within our baptismal waters. Refresh us in body, mind, and spirit with your presence and purpose. Amen.
