Jeremiah 31:7-14, Psalm 84, Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19, Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

The prophet Jeremiah who had prophesied the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people, now, in today's lesson, speaks of the return, and tells of God's expectation of their response in these words: "My people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord." From the distance of millennia, we know they were not. All through the Hebrew scriptures, we find the Hebrews rebelling again and again, unsatisfied with what God had prepared for them.

It seems we are no better. Here and now in this Christmas season, we celebrate God's self-giving Love incarnating in all our human limitations to reconcile the whole world In the Divine Presence and still we are unsatisfied! Just look around you and notice all the symptoms of dissatisfaction: anger, distrust, envy, resentment, and on and on. We cannot seem to recognize the bounty the Lord pours out into our lives day by day. Our eyes, our hearts appear to be closed to all the ways God works in our lives, ever inviting us into Divine Love.

How can our hearts be opened? What will satisfy us? Perhaps the psalmist for today has a clue:

"No good thing will the Lord withhold

from those who walk with integrity.

O Lord of Hosts,

happy are they who put their trust in you!"

If that doesn't resonate with you, if you still have a niggling feeling of being unsatisfied, you may want to sit with Paul's prayer for the Ephesians in our Epistle for today (1:17-19) trusting in our prayer-answering God.

May this New Year bring us all perfect satisfaction with and abundant gratitude for God's bountiful Providence, for us and all creation.