12-06-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
December 6, 2024
There are some exceptionally beautiful passages found in Isaiah that are highlighted during the Advent season. Throughout the centuries, many preachers have offered insightful commentary on these passages, and I have tried to emulate their work. However, there is a complication that is often ignored during Advent, especially when it comes to Isaiah. One moment, Isaiah is full of hope, and just a few verses later he is offering some really uncomfortable words. This coming Sunday, I will preach from Isaiah 9, where we find those magnificent words:

“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

I read those words and I can hear in my head “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” from Handel’s  Messiah. That portion of the Messiah has what I can only describe (remember, I am not a musician) as an animated and spirited joy that overcomes any sort of despondency. There is hope! Yet in Isaiah, shortly after those magnificent words, we read, 

“…everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly.”

Isaiah, like the other prophets, was not interested in making friends or sugarcoating anything. If your shoes don’t match your outfit, the prophet is going to let you know. And if you are treating other human beings in a disrespectful or outright unjust way, you better get ready for some honest and stinging rhetoric that will put you in your place. Yet, since the prophet wasn’t merely trying to make people feel bad, but rather encourage them to confess and strive for change, the unsettling words never concluded the prophetic message. Furthermore, God didn’t abandon us in this endeavor; instead, we were gifted with enfleshed power to assist us in our pursuit of transformation.

Merciful God, you have a vision for humanity, yet when we stray from that vision, you find a way to offer a holy critique. Continue to challenge us so that the life we have been called to live becomes the life we are living. Amen.