VII.
As you have read this passage did you notice, “You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen so that …”?

So who are we? So what follows if we are chosen servants?

As you return again to the passage, pay attention to what it might tell us about who we are as those “formed” by The Lord.

VIII.
Isaiah 43:1-12 (NRSVue)

But now thus says the Lord,
       he who created you, O Jacob,
       he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
       I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
       and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
       and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
       the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
       Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight
       and honored and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
       nations in exchange for your life.

Do not fear, for I am with you;
       I will bring your offspring from the east,
       and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
       and to the south, “Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
       and my daughters from the end of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
       whom I created for my glory,
       whom I formed and made.”

Bring forth the people who are blind yet have eyes,
       who are deaf yet have ears!
Let all the nations gather together,
       and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this
       and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
       and let them hear and say, “It is true.”

You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
       and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
       and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
       nor shall there be any after me.
I, I am the Lord,
       and besides me there is no savior.
I am the one who declared and saved and proclaimed,
       not some strange god among you;
       you are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God.

IX.
What do you hear about those The Lord forms as His people?

What sense do you have that The Lord is about the work of forming you as His … servant … His witness … His child …? What else?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}