Songs & Streams, Steps & Sighs
Isaiah 35: 1-10 |
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. God will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. God will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of God shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. |
They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
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Luke 1:46-55 |
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God's servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is God's name. God's mercy is for those who fear God from generation to generation. God has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
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Isaiah keeps dreaming. And today's picture is just as beautiful as the ones we've talked about over the past several weeks. The dry deserts of our lives will blossom; there will be streams of water, blooming lotus flowers, and the desert itself will rejoice with joy and singing! There will be no danger or threat to or from anyone.
But Isaiah doesnt stop today with a description. He gives us direction. "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God... God will come and save you.”
And people will 'get it' Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy!
ANd I look at this text and I think of how many times my life can feel like a dry desert- and how it's so difficult to find joy.I mean, hope is one thing, isn't it? They are really quite different- aren't they? Even though its' sometimes hard, if we search long enough or ansd enough people or look into enough eyes, we know we can eventually find hope, but joy? Happy? That just happens down't it, in response to something- like when someone gives us a gift, or we suddenly get a windfall, or ace a test, or get the hatchable we wanted for Christmas, we respond in joy... right?
Well, maybe. In one sense, joy does come as a response. But we also need to do something to embrace it. Let's look at Mary's story.
Mary is 12-13 years old and is engaged to be married. Her family has been planning a wedding since before she was born, and Mary, like any hopeful bride to be is making preparations herself. Who has planned a wedding? Except for Mary, the wedding wont last just a few hours, it will be a week or more of celebrations. She had to be feeling all kinds of emotions- happy, excited, nervous, anxious, and frankly, even helpless in some sense. Her expectations of what her life would look like we mapped out- she knew who she was or at least what she would become. She had watched her life modeled in her mother, and her friends and family members. She knew what her role was, and how important the community would be in sustaining and nurturing that life. People didn't make it on their own back then. (who does?)
So in the middle of this planning and pondering, and Angel of God appears, and tells her she is going to give birth to God's son- and that her baby will be great, and she has found favor with God and will do this amazing thing! Mary is confused, but eventually says "ok, whatever God wants, I'm in."
Until recently, I had always taken this response of Mary to be one of 'Mary said yes, she understood and she said yes to whatever God wanted." I've reached about it, and how when we have an encounter with a messenger of God we have to opportunity to say yes, and we should. And while that hasn't changed, what I have come to believe it that Mary didn't really understand all that was going to happen to her. She has an encounter and it doesn't tell us anywhere in that scene that Mary is happy, or honored, or joyful. That comes later. Here, we only see a young girl, life interrupted, who says "yeah sure whatever God wants, Gabriel." And I also believe the angel knows Mary doesn't get it. Because the angel tells her about her cousin Elizabeth, who despite her old age, is also pregnant.- 'for nothing shall be impossible with God,' the angel harps.
But Isaiah doesnt stop today with a description. He gives us direction. "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God... God will come and save you.”
And people will 'get it' Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy!
ANd I look at this text and I think of how many times my life can feel like a dry desert- and how it's so difficult to find joy.I mean, hope is one thing, isn't it? They are really quite different- aren't they? Even though its' sometimes hard, if we search long enough or ansd enough people or look into enough eyes, we know we can eventually find hope, but joy? Happy? That just happens down't it, in response to something- like when someone gives us a gift, or we suddenly get a windfall, or ace a test, or get the hatchable we wanted for Christmas, we respond in joy... right?
Well, maybe. In one sense, joy does come as a response. But we also need to do something to embrace it. Let's look at Mary's story.
Mary is 12-13 years old and is engaged to be married. Her family has been planning a wedding since before she was born, and Mary, like any hopeful bride to be is making preparations herself. Who has planned a wedding? Except for Mary, the wedding wont last just a few hours, it will be a week or more of celebrations. She had to be feeling all kinds of emotions- happy, excited, nervous, anxious, and frankly, even helpless in some sense. Her expectations of what her life would look like we mapped out- she knew who she was or at least what she would become. She had watched her life modeled in her mother, and her friends and family members. She knew what her role was, and how important the community would be in sustaining and nurturing that life. People didn't make it on their own back then. (who does?)
So in the middle of this planning and pondering, and Angel of God appears, and tells her she is going to give birth to God's son- and that her baby will be great, and she has found favor with God and will do this amazing thing! Mary is confused, but eventually says "ok, whatever God wants, I'm in."
Until recently, I had always taken this response of Mary to be one of 'Mary said yes, she understood and she said yes to whatever God wanted." I've reached about it, and how when we have an encounter with a messenger of God we have to opportunity to say yes, and we should. And while that hasn't changed, what I have come to believe it that Mary didn't really understand all that was going to happen to her. She has an encounter and it doesn't tell us anywhere in that scene that Mary is happy, or honored, or joyful. That comes later. Here, we only see a young girl, life interrupted, who says "yeah sure whatever God wants, Gabriel." And I also believe the angel knows Mary doesn't get it. Because the angel tells her about her cousin Elizabeth, who despite her old age, is also pregnant.- 'for nothing shall be impossible with God,' the angel harps.
And once the angel is out of sight, Mary, like many of us who have had an encounter with the divne who gives us a job to do that will cause us to upset out entire lives, goes into a little bit of denial.
What do you do when you get called to something that you know will go against everything you imagine yourself doing? When a messenger of God comes to you and tells you you have found favor with God, and God now has this assignment for you, and it will upset every expectation you had for your life, and you realize that people will look at you differently, and act differently around you, and you have to rethink your identity... what do you do? What do you do when you think you've heard a call from God, and you know that from now on, well, as soon as you embrace it, that is, life will be anything but easy.
While my mind remembers my own call to the ministry, this can happen in a thousand different ways. And it doesn't have to be a big thing. You can be called to take a hot meal to a friend, or work in the food pantry, or to sing in the choir, or to increase your giving, or read the bible every day, or just be nicer to your spouse for crying out loud... all of these can be a call from God- an assignment God is letting you know that you are invited to participate in.
So Mary does what many of us do when we get such a revelation- she goes to a lifeline- remember no cell phones or face book status updates exist, so while you and I might reach for technology, Mary goes to visit her cousin. We didn't read this part of the text today, but here's what happens in a nutshell. Elizabeth gets a glimpse of Mary, her baby John leaps in the womb. Elizabeth is stunned, and says to Mary, "You are blessed among women, and why is this happening to me, that the mother of my Lord is visiting me," and then she says, "and blessed be the one who believed God's promise will be fulfilled."
Mary had to be caught off guard. Without saying a word, Elizabeth both named her call, and affirmed her as a woman strong enough to carry our God's assignment! Oh to have an Elizabeth in your life! And so many times my friends, this is how it works. We can feel a call, we are pretty sure God has said something to us and we are supposed to do something, but before we can even tell anyone, some beautiful friend, cousin, coworker, family member, stranger, comes up and affirms that call on our life.- and calls us blessed.
It's only then that Mary opens her mouth and begins to sing with joy- and gives the glory right back to God! "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!" And my friends as soon as Mary has looked inside herself and has found the joy of God growing larger by the syllable, she begins to live out her call by speaking words of justice and liberation and freedom for the people. She begins preaching God's word even before she has a full grasp of what is within her- she starts from right where she is, and shares the good news with the ones right in front of her! What was only moments before a dry dessert, is now blossomed forth with vibrant color, and bursts with flowing streams and flowering plants. She has, in the words of Isaiah, " come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon her heads; she shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
My friends, today is the day that you have an encounter with the divine. In fact, every day, you encounter the divine- you are surrounded by angels! And maybe they aren't angels as you picture Gabriel, with a long white robe and big wings, but angel simply means messenger of God- and every day God sends angels your way to invite you to participate in God's new reign- calls to you stop the plans you have for your life and embrace the plans God has for your life. And yes, you may doubt God can be talking to you, and yes you may feel uncertain or unqualified or that you need to get back to business of planning your month long wedding celebration or whatever you've got going on in your life right now... but listen- before you turn away from what you think might be a crazy voice in your head, or some idea you are just making up, reach for a lifeline- go find an Elizabeth- in other words, go find someone to talk it out with, to share the news with, to help direct you to the joy waiting to burst forth inside you. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God... God will come and save you.”For nothing is impossible with God.