Unleashing Beauty

I am a part of an amazing team of people at Newsong Church who care deeply about the things of God, loving each other, and righting wrongs in this world. This year, our focus is on Unleashing Beauty in the world around us, because of what Christ's done for us. Our focus is taken from Isaiah 58. I invite you to read, meditate, and examine how you might unleash God's glory - also translate beauty - in this world. For me, it's affirming of our decision to adopt two little Ethiopian babies.

³ ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
⁴ What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
⁵ You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the Lord?

⁶ “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
⁷ Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

⁸ “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.