by Ken Sehested
Sisters and brothers, lend your ears to this teaching, for it is true and lasting. Do not say with your lips, “The Spirit of the Lord! The Spirit of the Lord!” when your hearts are shackled in fear, enslaved to security.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed.
Anointed you for what?! Have you grown confused by the barking of market reports?
By the demands of national security? By your 401K addiction?
Anointed to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted.
“The Spirit of the Lord! The Spirit of the Lord!” Your comfort-conditioned prayers leave little room for the Spirit’s work of seeing the world from below.
Anointed to proclaim the captives’ release, sight to the blind, freedom to every bonded body.
Can you not see? “The Spirit of the Lord” breaks forth from the ash heap, from the cells of incarcerated despair, from dispirited cries and discomforted eyes.
Now anoint us anew, and by grace comprehend, the Spirit’s sure leading to the margin’s amend.