Old Testament | Isaiah 65:17-25 (with Nick Locke)

Opening Song:
O Jerusalem by Greg Thompson.

Lyrics:
They have told us of a city
Where our tears are washed away
And every shadowed valley
Is washed in endless day

They have told us of a table
Where the poor are honored guests
Where all the weary wanderers
Come in to bless and rest

Will we see the day of the city of God
O Jerusalem Jerusalem
Can we run away to the city of God
O Jerusalem Jerusalem

They have told us of a chorus
Where our voices join as one
In songs of celebration
That all our wars are done

Passage:
“For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy[a] the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,[b]
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Musical Reflection:
Of the Father’s Love Begotten (DIVINUM MYSTERIUM)

Reflection Notes:
This meterless hymn flows freely, a clear indicator of its plainchant origins. The rich text by Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius was a response to the Council of Nicea in the early Church; it establishes belief in the Trinity and Christ’s nature as fully man and fully God.

Prayer:
Father, what we know not, teach us; what we have not, give us; what we are not, make us; for the sake of your Son our Savior. Amen.
-Old Anglican Prayer