Psalm 55, 138, 139:1-17(18-23) • Zechariah 8:9-17 • Matthew 25:31-46
“Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”
It was six years ago that I was with my priest in my car. We pulled in from lunch where we explored what God was doing in my life. She brought up the priesthood. “I think you’re a priest, she said.” I shriveled in my seat. She explained a beautiful metaphor relating a call to be a priest to having a baby. “You have two choices. You can accept it and let it happen or you can moan and wail and worry. Either way, the baby is coming.”
This story illustrates discernment in community, human fear, and even leadership. Today, though, I see truth as the theme. It is the same sort of truth, or emet in Hebrew, that this passage in Zechariah references. “Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgements that are true…”(v. 16) This was the truth she saw in me.
All over the Old Testament, the idea of “truth” refers to an experiential reality instead of a reasoned fact. God desires “truth in the inward being.” God judges according to emet, a part of righteousness and peace.
It was a miracle that day that I could hear the truth. It was something hidden even to me, but still in existence. In this time of waiting, of perhaps discernment of your own, may your eyes be opened to truth, and may you not be afraid, for the baby is coming.
God of Truth, You are the truth of our being. Help me today to experience all that you are, and to do it without fear. Amen.
Laura Masterson
Master of Divinity, Class of 2020
Diocese of Atlanta
Listen to Laura read her meditation and prayer:
Laura Masterson is a senior at Seminary of the Southwest and serves on the board for The Community of Hope International.
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