Amos 3: 12 – 4:5
Psalm 119: 1 – 24
2 Peter 3:1 – 10
Matthew 21: 23 – 32
Deal bountifully with your servant,
so that I may live and observe your word,
open my eyes so that I may behold
wondrous things of your law.
I live in an alien land, do not
hide your commandments from me.
Following Jesus’ Bethlehem birth, the gospel tells us of the Holy Family’s journey to Egypt. We are unsure of their length of stay, but they found themselves regarded as aliens in that land, subject to religious practices and cultural customs not their own.
Yet they survived, Jesus thrived in body and spirit, aided no doubt by other families along their way until their trek to Galilee.
The psalmist exhorts us here to recognize that we, as Canadians, must feel the urgent need to reach out to such aliens. Churches and mosques have already welcomed Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country. We help by providing housing, health care, aid in finding employment, and their children’s schooling.
They are free to worship as they may. Soon most will become accepted Canadian citizens – aliens no longer.
Janice Barnes
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