Isaiah’s Four Servant Songs by Ella Pomeroy
Hi Friends,
What I have this morning are interpretations by Ella Pomeroy of what we know as The Servant Songs, four passages in the Book of Isaiah that helped the disciples of Jesus understand what had happened when Jesus was executed by the Romans. These interpretations were published in Unity magazine from September to December 1937.
Let me explain why you should print them out and spend some time with them this week before Easter, using Ella Pomeroy as a guide.
First, Christianity’s earliest writings drew from these Servant Songs. They are, in many respects, the source documents for the Christian faith. The writings of the disciples of Jesus are no longer with us but they predate and shape the writings of Paul, the four Gospels, the early church fathers, and the theologians who developed the creeds that we now recite each Sunday in most churches. Revisiting these source documents during Holy Week can provide new insights into what it means to be a metaphysical Christian today.
Second, they are written by Ella Pomeroy, a woman whose life story will resonate with many modern people. Ella can rightfully claim to have “grown up in New Thought” and her biography by Raymond Charles Barker is one of the few biographies we have of early Unity writers. She was a critical thinker with deep spiritual understandings. Be sure to read her profile.
Most important, The Servant Songs provide a framework for writing our own Christian credo—our individual understanding of how we relate to God, to Jesus and to the Christ Spirit that resides in each of us, in all human beings and in all creation. In other words, we have an opportunity this week to experience the same journey the disciples of Jesus had in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago who witnessed the death and rising of Jesus Christ.
That is exactly what I have done during the past few weeks and why I am late in getting this Sunday’s post uploaded. I’m not sharing what has come to me here and now, but I would be open to Zooming with others in the weeks following Easter to share what we have learned. And that is what several of us do each Monday morning at 10am Eastern in our Sunday Lesson Sermon Prep meeting.
Here are links to the four articles:
- First Servant Song: Behold My Servant (Isaiah 42:1-4)
- Second Servant Song: Thou Art My Servant (Isaiah Isaiah 49:1-6)
- Third Servant Song: Jehovah Will Help Me (Isaiah 50:4-9)
- Fourth Servant Song: My Righteous Servant (Isaiah 52:13 - 53:1-12)
My hunch is that if we will slow down and spend some time this week working through our own understanding of the four Servant Songs and formulate our own credo of how we navigate life passion, then it just may be that we will encounter the same rising of the Lord of Our Being next Sunday, Easter.
Palm Sunday, April 2, 2023
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Download PDF of Ella Pomeroy's Isaiah's Servant Songs from Unity magazine September-December 1937
Links to the four articles:
