Preach Deliverance to the Captives
By Rev. Gary Tillman
By Rev. Gary Tillman
“This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,members of the same body,
and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” ~ Ephesians 3:6
As I was reading this section of scripture, a song came into my mind. You may have heard it before: This land is your land, this land is my land/From California,to the New York Island/From the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters/This land was made for you and me.
The Gospel, the good news of your forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection, unites all people. We are all baptized into his death and resurrection and made members of his one family. God is the Father of us all. The New Colossus is a sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame/With conquering limbs astride from land to land/Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand/A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame/Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name/Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand/Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command/The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame./"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she/With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor./Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore./Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,/I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The Statue of Liberty stands as a beacon of hope and light for all people looking for freedom in this world. The Statue can only serve as a picture. The Statue cannot deliver freedom. True unity, for people of all time and place, lies under the cross of Calvary. As Christians we look to the cross as our beacon of hope and freedom. The cross is the tool used by God, to demonstrate his love and compassion for all people of all time.
Jesus, the cross, for you, mystery revealed!
and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” ~ Ephesians 3:6
As I was reading this section of scripture, a song came into my mind. You may have heard it before: This land is your land, this land is my land/From California,to the New York Island/From the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters/This land was made for you and me.
The Gospel, the good news of your forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection, unites all people. We are all baptized into his death and resurrection and made members of his one family. God is the Father of us all. The New Colossus is a sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame/With conquering limbs astride from land to land/Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand/A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame/Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name/Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand/Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command/The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame./"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she/With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor./Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore./Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,/I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The Statue of Liberty stands as a beacon of hope and light for all people looking for freedom in this world. The Statue can only serve as a picture. The Statue cannot deliver freedom. True unity, for people of all time and place, lies under the cross of Calvary. As Christians we look to the cross as our beacon of hope and freedom. The cross is the tool used by God, to demonstrate his love and compassion for all people of all time.
Jesus, the cross, for you, mystery revealed!
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