Help us live the life

At a recent Caim, we started the day singing:

In the morning when I rise,
In the morning when I rise,
In the morning when I rise,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus.

And when I am alone,…

And when I come to die,…

On the centre table was a dish of oil. We read:
Isaiah 61 v1-4; 10-11

1 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the
Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to
bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to
the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to provide for those who
mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will
be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
4 They shall build up the ancient
ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined
cities, the devastations of many generations
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall
exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has
covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a
garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth
brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the
nations.

We reflected upon how Isaiah 61 was rooted in Lev 25 Jubilee, and how in Luke 4 Jesus himself reads this significant text - cancelled debts of JUBILEE. We reflected upon God who delivers = a God who can disrupt social bondage and exploitation, overthrow ruthless orderings of public life and authorise new circumstances of dancing freedom, dignity, and justice. We thought of the refusal to accept oppressive circumstances.

We were then invited to meditate on this text considering the
In the meantime… Afterwards… aspects of Isaiah here.
We then prayed for others and the world.
And…
Eternal God,
we confess that we do not expect and long for
the transforming power of your love
to work miracles in these hard hearts of ours.
Yet we secretly long for a rescue, an escape, a miracle,
to relieve us of the responsibilities and the challenges you set before us.
Healing Spirit, renew our confidence in your power
and in the power of love to change our lives,
and give us courage to be the fully responsible persons
Christ calls us to be. Amen.
We finally came to the oil. Oil that can be messy if it spills, it soaks in, etc.Such is the way of God’s anointing… soaking our lives.Jesus said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
We then had invitation to take the next couple of minutes asking God’s blessing on the work ahead of us that we know of today and even the unknown. Then, I said, “As we continue our business today, let’s do so remembering God’s call to us… Before you get up to speak, dip your fingers in the oil. Pray that God’s Spirit may touch our conversation so that we become a prophetic community, speaking good news and transformation to the church and the world.

Many are the words we speak,
Many are the songs we sing
Many kinds of offering
But now to live the life
Help us live the Life.
Matt Redman

What was significant was the ways in which that day and days had a real sense of ‘anointing’ service in intimate pastoral moments such as with someone who is presently dying of cancer and sharing their faith in the midst of that. Its humbling.