A Conversation with the Creator

***

The Lord called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb
he gave me my name.
 

Thus says the Lord:

“Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness
for the child of her womb?

Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.

See, upon the palms of my hands
I have written your name.

Raise your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth below;

Though the heavens grow thin like smoke,
the earth wears out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies,
My salvation shall remain forever.

For I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the seas
so that its waves roar.

I have put my words into your mouth
and shielded you in the shadow
of my hand,
I, who stretched out the heavens,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
who say to you: You are my people!”

***

O Lord, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.

Thus says the Lord:

“I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth:

The things of the past shall not
be remembered or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always
be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create.”

-- Isaiah 49:1, 15-16; 51:6, 15-16;
64:7; 65:17-18