Monday of the First Week in Advent, Dec.4, 2006

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 22; Matthew 8:5-11 A verse from Isaiah 2 and one from Psalm 22 touched upon two meaningful experiences I have had. The first was the gift from Dr. Eric Lewis Friedland of a beautiful Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) with the following verse from our first reading for today: "For from Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." This third verse is inscribed in gold letters on the front cover of the Tanakh and it reminds me of my friendship with Eric and our many exchanges in the Dayton Christian Jewish Dialogue. We meet every month for two hours and I have been present for almost all of the meetings since 1972. Then as I read the Psalm, I realized that another verse struck me with the experience of a dinner in my honor. I was given a picture framed with a verse from Psalm 122 that had in Latin and Hebrew the following text: "Because of my relatives and friends I will say 'Peace upon you.'" (Psalm 122:8). Whenever we are able to share in the faith of another religion and know our own very well, we deepen our commitment to other persons and strengthen our own faith commitment. I have found this to be true for me through the friendships and the dialogues, perhaps over 300 of them, with those of the Jewish faith. We need to walk a mile in the other person's shoes before we really get to know that person. I like to read the entire book of Isaiah during Advent since he is the featured prophet. We have already seen the opening chapter of this classical priest and prophet and now we enter into the mystery and power of God's word as instruction and revelation. Our prayer is enhanced by the chosen psalms and the variety of selections from the Gospels makes this a season of scriptural delights. Matthew's Gospel was designed for a community consisting of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. No wonder several books have been written from passages in Matthew which are use for study in the dialogues between Christians and Jews. Many of his passages correlate with Judaism and Christianity. Today the emphasis is on the faith of a Roman or a Gentile. There is also a universal call to all to walk in the paths of the Lord even though we are all unworthy servants. We declare our trust in God by saying, "Lord, I am not worthy that you enter under my roof but say the word and my soul shall be healed." Matthew 8:8 . I changed the word servant to soul to fit my Advent prayer. Amen.