A Season of WaitingSample

The Art of Dignity

Every Australian can sense summer coming. The coolness of spring is giving way to heat and the promise of holidays. End-of-year events are taking their place in the calendar and thoughts are turning to Christmas plans.

Back in Isaiah’s day, he was the one who sensed the season changing. Isaiah recognised the events that would lead to the release of God’s people from captivity in Babylon to go back home and he told people to get ready for it. Although this passage of scripture is God’s heart of salvation spoken through Isaiah for the time it was written, it’s also a proclamation that has whispered through the years to speak to our hearts. The salvation we have is through God’s Son and is for all people for all time.

We get to come home to God in our hearts. That is the true message of Christmas. When we come home to God, we find He gifts us with holiness and redemption. I think these gifts can be summed up in the word ‘dignity’. We don’t only receive dignity but we can also give dignity to others. It’s a Christmas gift we can give every day by noticing where others are being treated as less than God’s loved ones and then helping that to change.

This Advent, I’m going to choose to pray and seek ways to be a part of restoring dignity for others. Will you join me?

Written by Kath Henry