Standing on the Promises Advent 2
“Standing on the Promises”
Isaiah 40:1-11
Rev Carolyn Waters
CCUM December 4, 2005 ADVENT I
The words of Isaiah ring familiar beauty to our ears. I would assume that most of you are reminded of the beautiful selection from Handel’s Messiah………….Comfort Ye. Words written in 1741 and first performed in 1742, during a time of Handel’s life that one would have thought his career to be over, ending pretty much as a failure. And as so often happens in the world of the artist, his best and most famous work came toward the end of his life. Perhaps that is why Handle understood the words so well and could give them voice through his music.
This passage from Isaiah couldn’t be more perfect as we prepare for the “savior” of the world. As we anticipate that God will come and be with us in the midst of all the craziness of life, in the midst of war and pain, brokenness and separation…in the midst of poverty and oppression, these words of comfort come once again as they have for generation after generation to promise the presence of God in the wild places of the world.
Ralph Klein of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago says that in this passage God is speaking to the divine council or angelic attendants “telling them to reassure Jerusalem that her hitch in captivity is over, that she has already suffered twice as much as she deserved.” The voice is crying, in the wilderness……….to get ready for God’s presence, to prepare a highway for God. To Preach it! To believe that God will come and care for God’s people, that God will come and comfort the afflicted, the broken, the lost, the hurt, the lonely.
Klein says that the important message of this passage is to remember, “While everything in the world is transient and fickle, God’s word of promise is always sure.”
http://www.textweek.com/prophets/isaiah40a.htm
Our world and our lives are transient and fickle…God’s word of promise is sure.
We do a little grumping now and then about the meaning of Christmas, or the lost meaning of Christmas…I participate in it as well. But I’m aware in the light of this reading from Isaiah that the intention of Christmas may even be lost on we Christians who grump about the secular celebrations.
My stance this year on the secular celebrations, is that at least there is a time in the year that some attention is brought to the Christ story, no matter how commercial or artificial………..at least it’s an opportunity for some child to innocently ask “Who is Jesus?”
But deeper than that, hear again the words I used in speaking of who God is in this passage from Isaiah, as we anticipate that God will come and be with us in the midst of all the craziness of life, in the midst of war and pain, brokenness and separation…in the midst of poverty and oppression, these words of comfort come once again as they have for generation after generation to promise the presence of God in the wild places of the world.
To believe that God will come and care for God’s people, that God will come and comfort the afflicted, the broken, the lost, the hurt, and the lonely.
From time to time that may include us. At some point in our life it will include us. Most likely it will be in those moments of touching our mortality, or walking the journey of death with those we love. Most of the world lives in emotional and physical places of brokenness and oppression day after day.
And we say, in our rehearsal of the story of a savior being born, that God will come and give comfort to our hurting world.
We believe that. We believe it and have stood on that promise year after year all of our lives in the same way that Comfort Ye has been sung year after year since 1742, in the same way that the birth narrative of Jesus has been told year after year for at least 1900 years……….We believe the promise of God to be with us.
Paul Tillich, from The Shaking of the Foundations: 1955
“The words of this great chapter sound like the rising and falling waves in a turbulent ocean. Darkness and light follow each other; after the depth of sin and punishment, the prophet announces forgiveness and liberation. But the wave falls, and the prophet asks himself how he could have made such an announcement, when all the goodness of mortal men is as the flower of the field, which fades because the breath of God blows upon it. But he does not remain in the depths of his melancholy: Over against human mortality the word of God shall stand forever. There is something eternal to which we can cling: Be not afraid, the Lord God shall come with strong hand. So the wave rises, and then again it falls: The nations are as a drop of water and a piece of dust; all the nations are as nothing before Him, they are counted as less than nothing. Again the wave rises: God stands above the circle of the earth, above all created things, above the highest and the lowest! And when once more the wave falls and the servant of God complains that he does not receive justice from God, the answer is that God acts beyond human expectation. (God) He gives power to the faint and to (the one) him that hath no might (God) He increaseth strength. (God) He acts paradoxically; (God) He acts beyond human understanding.”
Tillich goes on to say that it is our human situation that we suffer. But that the prophet knew the meaning of our suffering beyond the moment, beyond the history, looking to the ultimate power and meaning and majesty of being.
Tillich said: “He knew two orders of being: the human, political, historical order, and the divine, eternal order. Because he knew these two orders, he could speak as he did, moving continually between the depth of human nothingness and the great height of divine creativity.”
“The human order, the order of history, is primarily the order of growing and dying.”
“The order beyond the order of history is the divine order. And it is paradoxical: men are like grass, but the word of God spoken to them shall stand forever. Men stand under the law of sin and punishment, but the divine order breaks through it and brings forgiveness. Men faint, falling from the height of their moral goodness and youthful power, and just when they have fallen and are weakest, they run without weariness and rise up with wings as eagles.”
“God acts beyond all human assumptions and valuations. He acts surprisingly, unexpectedly, paradoxically.”
Wow! Wow! God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We have trouble imagining a virgin birth! God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We have trouble accepting the contradictions of holiday celebrations and the Gospel story. God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We wonder where the cold will sleep and the hungry will eat. God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We question war and injustice and political oppression. God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
And even though we sometimes forget that promise, when we remember the promise of God being with us, we stand there. We stand on that promise with hope and trust that it is true. We stand on the promise of God with us because if we were to try to stand alone, our lives would be futile, empty, barren and without hope.
So whatever it takes, for the world to remember that God is with us, and God will continue to come and make a place in this world to be known, whatever it takes for people to hear the story and remember the promise……….bring it on. Let the story be told from generation to generation that God is about to do a marvelous thing.
Isaiah 40:1-11
Rev Carolyn Waters
CCUM December 4, 2005 ADVENT I
The words of Isaiah ring familiar beauty to our ears. I would assume that most of you are reminded of the beautiful selection from Handel’s Messiah………….Comfort Ye. Words written in 1741 and first performed in 1742, during a time of Handel’s life that one would have thought his career to be over, ending pretty much as a failure. And as so often happens in the world of the artist, his best and most famous work came toward the end of his life. Perhaps that is why Handle understood the words so well and could give them voice through his music.
This passage from Isaiah couldn’t be more perfect as we prepare for the “savior” of the world. As we anticipate that God will come and be with us in the midst of all the craziness of life, in the midst of war and pain, brokenness and separation…in the midst of poverty and oppression, these words of comfort come once again as they have for generation after generation to promise the presence of God in the wild places of the world.
Ralph Klein of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago says that in this passage God is speaking to the divine council or angelic attendants “telling them to reassure Jerusalem that her hitch in captivity is over, that she has already suffered twice as much as she deserved.” The voice is crying, in the wilderness……….to get ready for God’s presence, to prepare a highway for God. To Preach it! To believe that God will come and care for God’s people, that God will come and comfort the afflicted, the broken, the lost, the hurt, the lonely.
Klein says that the important message of this passage is to remember, “While everything in the world is transient and fickle, God’s word of promise is always sure.”
http://www.textweek.com/prophets/isaiah40a.htm
Our world and our lives are transient and fickle…God’s word of promise is sure.
We do a little grumping now and then about the meaning of Christmas, or the lost meaning of Christmas…I participate in it as well. But I’m aware in the light of this reading from Isaiah that the intention of Christmas may even be lost on we Christians who grump about the secular celebrations.
My stance this year on the secular celebrations, is that at least there is a time in the year that some attention is brought to the Christ story, no matter how commercial or artificial………..at least it’s an opportunity for some child to innocently ask “Who is Jesus?”
But deeper than that, hear again the words I used in speaking of who God is in this passage from Isaiah, as we anticipate that God will come and be with us in the midst of all the craziness of life, in the midst of war and pain, brokenness and separation…in the midst of poverty and oppression, these words of comfort come once again as they have for generation after generation to promise the presence of God in the wild places of the world.
To believe that God will come and care for God’s people, that God will come and comfort the afflicted, the broken, the lost, the hurt, and the lonely.
From time to time that may include us. At some point in our life it will include us. Most likely it will be in those moments of touching our mortality, or walking the journey of death with those we love. Most of the world lives in emotional and physical places of brokenness and oppression day after day.
And we say, in our rehearsal of the story of a savior being born, that God will come and give comfort to our hurting world.
We believe that. We believe it and have stood on that promise year after year all of our lives in the same way that Comfort Ye has been sung year after year since 1742, in the same way that the birth narrative of Jesus has been told year after year for at least 1900 years……….We believe the promise of God to be with us.
Paul Tillich, from The Shaking of the Foundations: 1955
“The words of this great chapter sound like the rising and falling waves in a turbulent ocean. Darkness and light follow each other; after the depth of sin and punishment, the prophet announces forgiveness and liberation. But the wave falls, and the prophet asks himself how he could have made such an announcement, when all the goodness of mortal men is as the flower of the field, which fades because the breath of God blows upon it. But he does not remain in the depths of his melancholy: Over against human mortality the word of God shall stand forever. There is something eternal to which we can cling: Be not afraid, the Lord God shall come with strong hand. So the wave rises, and then again it falls: The nations are as a drop of water and a piece of dust; all the nations are as nothing before Him, they are counted as less than nothing. Again the wave rises: God stands above the circle of the earth, above all created things, above the highest and the lowest! And when once more the wave falls and the servant of God complains that he does not receive justice from God, the answer is that God acts beyond human expectation. (God) He gives power to the faint and to (the one) him that hath no might (God) He increaseth strength. (God) He acts paradoxically; (God) He acts beyond human understanding.”
Tillich goes on to say that it is our human situation that we suffer. But that the prophet knew the meaning of our suffering beyond the moment, beyond the history, looking to the ultimate power and meaning and majesty of being.
Tillich said: “He knew two orders of being: the human, political, historical order, and the divine, eternal order. Because he knew these two orders, he could speak as he did, moving continually between the depth of human nothingness and the great height of divine creativity.”
“The human order, the order of history, is primarily the order of growing and dying.”
“The order beyond the order of history is the divine order. And it is paradoxical: men are like grass, but the word of God spoken to them shall stand forever. Men stand under the law of sin and punishment, but the divine order breaks through it and brings forgiveness. Men faint, falling from the height of their moral goodness and youthful power, and just when they have fallen and are weakest, they run without weariness and rise up with wings as eagles.”
“God acts beyond all human assumptions and valuations. He acts surprisingly, unexpectedly, paradoxically.”
Wow! Wow! God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We have trouble imagining a virgin birth! God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We have trouble accepting the contradictions of holiday celebrations and the Gospel story. God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We wonder where the cold will sleep and the hungry will eat. God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
We question war and injustice and political oppression. God acts beyond anything we can imagine!
And even though we sometimes forget that promise, when we remember the promise of God being with us, we stand there. We stand on that promise with hope and trust that it is true. We stand on the promise of God with us because if we were to try to stand alone, our lives would be futile, empty, barren and without hope.
So whatever it takes, for the world to remember that God is with us, and God will continue to come and make a place in this world to be known, whatever it takes for people to hear the story and remember the promise……….bring it on. Let the story be told from generation to generation that God is about to do a marvelous thing.
posted by Rev Waters | 8:52 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home