special to God

The prophet writing in Isaiah 61, knows that he is special to God because God honoured him by provided him with garments of beauty and value just as God clothes the earth. The writer of the Epistle to the Galatians pointed out that we are all adopted children of God and as such have been given the Spirit of Jesus.[Gal 4:5,6]  Everyone is special to God and Jesus showed us that God displays preferential treatment towards those who have special needs.

There are others who are special to God but are not considered special in our culture. These are older people. In the work place, people don’t need to be elderly to be undervalued. From the age of thirty, people are thought to be too old for some jobs and those who lose their job after the age of fifty find it increasingly difficult to find a new one. Many older people are made to feel they are a nuisance to society especially if they also have a disability. Many, many times I have heard older women say, “I don’t want to be a burden on my family.” Yet from early on in our Scripture we hear God telling people to take care of widows. Older people feature strongly in God’s scheme. Living to an old age was seen as a blessing from God. Abraham and Sarah were old. Moses was certainly elderly when he finished leading the Israelites. The Wise men would only have had that said of them if they were elderly. Simeon and Anna from the Gospel reading, were both elderly.

May we bring praise and thanksgiving to God by treating all people and all creation as special.

Rev Julianne Parker 

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