ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
July 15, 2026
A couple of months back in Sojourners Verse and Voice, the following scripture was referenced: “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” (Isaiah 61:11). I was struck by the relationship between ‘righteousness’ and ‘praise.’ And why exactly, if I am reading this correctly, is the Lord God causing praise to spring up or to be put on display before all the nations? Shouldn’t praise spring forth or be put on display by all the nations? Yet I think about some of the early church leaders, including Augustine, who spoke of God as the first actor or first mover. Without God initiating what is the potential for a life of faith, I do not believe we’d conjure it up ourselves. Righteousness (how faith is expressed toward others) and praise (how faith is expressed toward God) begin with what God has done. We have free will in responding to what God has done, but it is a response. I don’t know if that is what Isaiah had in mind when those words were written down, but when we understand God as the first actor or first mover, it becomes very difficult to be arrogant or self-congratulatory about our righteousness or praise. In fact, our righteousness and praise come together as an expression of gratitude. It’s not about me, but about the One who inspired me by making the first move.
Holy God, you acted and then acted again and again. You have acted for us and on our behalf. This came, not because we asked, but simply because you are the God who first loved us. We pray this day for the capacity to respond with a life of gratitude. Amen.
