After overcoming his inner doubts about his worthiness, Isaiah was able to answer the Lord’s call with an enthusiastic, “Here I am; send me!”

In your career in ministry, have you ever felt rejected by your congregation, as Jesus was rejected by his hometown in today’s gospel?

Take a moment to check in with your body and the way you are feeling. Have any aches, pains, or illness that are interfering with your ability to concentrate or carry out your work? Are you getting the exercise you need, eating well, getting enough rest?

“For the Lord delights in you.” Oddly, these can be difficult words to hear. We know how unworthy we feel before God. Yet God, who knows all things and sees all things, still delights in us.

Many people claim that they never hear about a loving, caring God in church. Paul’s letter to Titus reveals God’s motive for initiating our salvation—kindness and generous love.

As the Christmas season draws to its liturgical close this coming week, and the long winter months stretch ahead, many people experience a certain amount of post-holiday depression or “winter blues.”

Both Samuel and Jesus are consecrated to God. You, too, are consecrated, especially in your ministry. What does this dedication mean to you?

The celebration of the birth of the Lord is hours away. This Fourth Sunday of Advent gives you the chance to recollect yourself, take a breath, and enter the Christmas mystery.

The note of joy this Sunday sounds clear in the liturgy, but it is not a generic joy we celebrate. We rejoice because God is in our midst, and the upcoming celebration of Christmas will bring home to us the advent of this presence in the person of Jesus.

The prophet Baruch speaks of the children of Israel returning to Jerusalem and rejoicing because “they are remembered by God.” The writer Roderick Strange calls prayer the “remembrance of God.”