Today, the church secretary brought in her new baby boy. She showed him all around. And we did not disappoint---cooing and adoring this two week tiny bundle capped with auburn hair. Mother beamed, radiant with the glow of motherhood.

The child found his way into the arms of a single woman, who held him adoringly, reveling in the mystery of this fruit of another's womb. She laid him back in his mother's arms only after she's finally tired of holding him and swaying gently in the manner that seems to come to all women instinctively.

And I saw in the flesh what the Christian saint, Julian of Norwich, saw in the Spirit six hundred years earlier. Raptured in a holy vision, she "saw that God rejoices that he is our father, and God rejoices that he is our mother" (Revelations of Divine Love, Long Text: 52), who cradles each of us, looks lovingly into our infant faces and whispers: "I love you and you love me, and our love shall never be divided," (LT: 58).

Likely this is just what Isaiah saw too, then preached joyously at just such a time as ours when folks needed to know they were held and would not be forgotten, neglected, or discarded by divine Love (Isaiah 49.14-16).