Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Isaiah 35:1-10

Year A - Advent 3 - Needed Change 3
December 15, 2013

If you were to read chapter 34 in conjunction with 35 we are apparently dealing with a zero-sum G*D. It is either desolation or flourishing. There is no middle ground.

As with every apocalypse, lines are distinctly drawn. You are either for or against G*D and, likewise, G*D is either for or against you.

For difficult times there is a feeling of righteousness that is generated by this sort of picture. Unfortunately it is not a sustainable emotion or event. The energy it takes to be continually aware of how close you are to moving from rain to drought wears a body out. We can attend to holiness for only so long.

It won’t be long before we are setting up rules and institutions and rituals and intermediaries to give us a break where we can sleep and dream, not just be on 24/7.

This raises an Advent question of whether we are the ones we’ve been waiting for? (Thank You, Sweet Honey in the Rock for a good song even when done by others.) Can those who are solely dependent upon G*D be worth waiting for. Isn’t there a need for a covenant to have more mutuality than this?

A road only for the holy, is spiritual trickle-down theory as faulty as its economic counterpart. May you be blessed with a blessed rest during Advent. May your wait be restful as well as expectant. If you strain to see too far down the road it won’t be long before you fall prey to a mirage.


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