Isaiah 58:10
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.

Reflection by The Rev. Canon Lee Curtis

This week we move through the If/Then statements, those ways in which God calls us back to focus on God’s priorities, and we see a change from our conditional actions to God’s unconditional promise. This verse is a pivot from what is, to what God will bring about through our faithfulness, and it is the crux of a shift in the tone of the passage. The theme of this week is changing—a theme that is dear to us as Christians. We turn and return. We answer God’s call and God responds with a world that is more than we can ask or imagine.

This shift is not only based on the conditional contained in 58:10, it’s a cumulative proposition- if we remove the yoke, if we stop pointing in accusation, if we speak no evil, if we offer food, and satisfy the needs of the afflicted… these changes in behavior bring about changes in our world. Changes from darkness into light. From gloom to brightness. From the brokenness we inhabit to the wholeness that God is working to bring about. As we live in a moment of change—of (God willing) a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, of new policies and patterns of migration and how we respond to it, we offer these questions for the week:

Questions for reflection

  • What is the darkness that God is calling you out of?
  • What is the light that you’re feeling yourself drawn to?
  • What are the ways we can live into “our part” of God’s work- those if/then’s we’ve been present in up until this verse?
  • As we move toward, and when we arrive at that place of new dawning, what will it look like, what will it feel like?

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The Rev. Canon Lee Curtis, Canon of the Bishop in the Diocese of Rio Grande, was born and raised in the “Costera Espacio” of the State of Florida. A graduate of Florida State University and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, his ministry has been focused on developing faithful and mission-driven communities that thrive at the crossroads of multiple languages and cultures.

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