​When my husband Tim and I were first going through marriage prep, one of the things the priest walking us through the process talked to us about, was the readings for the wedding. Having sung at quite a few weddings (I was a wedding singer – but only the “at Church” variety), I’d heard this reading so many times it didn’t have the personal meaning I was hoping for. We chose instead a selection from the 1st Letter of John. It wasn’t in the “suggested for marriages” book, but neither were our first reading (the call of Samuel), the psalm (Psalm 40) or the Gospel (a selection from John), as I recall. We set out to use the readings to describe our sense of vocation and as a witness to the sacrificial love we intended to show one another going forward. They were unusual choices, which definitely didn’t sound like the same old 1 Cor 13 and wedding at Cana readings I’d heard so many times while singing at weddings.
 
Now as the grey hair starts to encroach and my laugh lines are becoming happy wrinkles, I can’t help but laugh at my youthful indifference to this powerful reading. What is more radical than the love described above and more truthful than the closing verses? How much could we change the world if we lived as that love to others and even ourselves? How much do each of us long to “know as fully as I am known”. This description is of the Body of Christ and its members fully knowing God, but we are each called to mirror that love in our relationships with others, however dim the reflection is of the perfect love of God.

As I was checking an alternate translation for Psalm 71, I noticed a caption in the margin which read, “… a Prayer for Help in Old Age”, and Line 18 in the Psalm refers to “old age and grey hairs”! Ah-ha! I think this Psalm might be meant for such as me! Sensing a commonality with the Psalmist, I have decided to refer to the Psalmist as 'her'! 

As I read/sang/prayed this Psalm over many times, I had the sense the prayer could have been composed recently. The message is so simple, yet timeless. The Psalmist prays, “upon Thee I have leaned since my birth… from my youth Thou hast taught me". She sees God throughout all the phases of her life; good times and bad. Her prayer for help from God speaks perhaps to her awareness of past failings and loneliness of aging. When she fails, she humbly repents and she returns to "praising God… and telling of His deeds of Salvation". One can only trust what one loves with their might. Her love for God, her Creator, is evident in her prayer of hope and trust. "O God do not forsake me… Thou wilt bring me up again and comfort me".

Many people who believe in Jesus do so on the basis of evidence. I myself could not be a Christian if there was no evidence that Jesus was both human and divine, and I had no choice but to make a blind leap of faith. Why? Because I value hard evidence—not only in my professional life as a lawyer but in my faith life as well.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Luke, “after investigating everything carefully from the very first, [decided] to write an orderly account” of the truth. Luke is a man after my own heart. He appreciates that, for people like me, an orderly account is persuasive. It eliminates any doubt that might arise from an inconsistent and disorganized account, and allows me immediately to go deeper into the meaning and power of Jesus’ life and actions.

After declaring this intention, Luke moves straight into a two-pronged revelation that lays the foundation for everything else in his Gospel. First, he reveals who Jesus is: the one anointed by the Holy Spirit and sent by God to fulfill Isaiah’s prophesy. Second, Luke reveals Jesus’ mission: “to bring good news to the poor” and “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (The year of the Lord’s favour is described in Leviticus as a time of freedom and redemption.) Finally, Luke reveals the greatest news of all. The time of waiting is over: the Messiah everyone has been waiting for has arrived and scripture has been fulfilled.