Original Conception

And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
 ²Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.  -- Isaiah 12:1-2 (KJV)

There is a a substantive block of Christianity that carries a dim view of human beings.  The proclamation of God in Genesis 1:26-31 that human beings are created in God's own image and that everything God made is good - got tossed in the trash when St. Augustine of Hippo (and others) came in during a very dark period of human history.  They managed to convince the majority of decision-makers in the Christian Church at the time that human beings were woeful, pathetic creatures incapable and unworthy of anything good.  The contrived explanation for this got labeled, "Original Sin."   To this day more time and energy is spent in the Christian Church dwelling on Original Sin, the sins and the corruption of human kind, than is spent on God's Original Conception -- "So God created man in his own image... And God blessed them." (Gen. 1:27-28)

The Prophet Isaiah says, "In that day," what day?  In the day that the Lord has made.  There is no question whatsoever that human beings can do wrong -- even seriously, sinisterly, with shocking evil wrong.  The Old Testament is a witness that human beings can err, and fall away from their ties to the Living God.  There is ample witness that, like any parent, God can be angry with the kids.  Yet, in order to bring all of those kids back into the folds of God's loving apron, God will go all out.  When a patient adherence to the Covenenat to be their God does not win their loyalty, God sends His own son to hand deliver the message: "You are forgiven.  Understand my love.  Understand what I am giving you."  It is another sad day in the faith journey then when THAT message is sullied by the focus on unworthiness, guilt, and feeling sorry for ever being born because it insults God's honor to breathe.

Christ died for you - to make you worthy; to restore the Original Conception, as God made you.  Grateful walking in The Way of Christ, transformed by God's abiding love, and sustained in the Holy Spirit's guidance and gentle leading should be the object of your hourly praise and trust.  Do not be afraid.

Prayer:
Creating God, you established us in your will to be yours.  Help us to adopt the reality of our foundational goodness rooted in you, that we might be your love and forgiveness to the world.  Through Christ we pray.  Amen.