Isiah's Call
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 -- Week of 2 Advent, Year One
Richard Baxter, Pastor and Writer, 1691
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 936)
Psalms 38 (morning) 119:25-48 (evening)
Isaiah 6:1-13
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
John 7:53 - 8:11
As we read Isaiah today, it begins ominously with a vision at the Jerusalem Temple in Judea. "In the year that King Uzziah died..." We do not know the year, but it is between 742 and 736. It was a time of turbulance and political intreige. Assyria (now central Iraq) threatened the region. In both Israel and Judah there were pro- and anti- Assyrian factions urging either alliance with or resistance to Assyria. At one point, Israel allied with several neighbors to force Judah to join an anti-Assyrian coalition or else they would effect a coup. Judah allied with neighboring nations in what amounted to a form of a civil war pitting Israel and Judah against each other. These were threatening and complicated times. These were also times of relative wealth and power for both Israel and Judah. Political and economic strategy lie behind the words of the prophet.
Isaiah has a transcendent vision and audition. He hears the hymn of the heavens, now enshrined in our Eucharistic liturgy: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." Isaiah is called to prophesy: "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And I said, 'here am I; send me!'"
The commission is awesome and awful. "Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand. Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.' Then I said, 'How long, O Lord?'" The answer is ominous. Only after catastrophe will the people awaken. The only promise comes from the stump of a burned tree.
These seem like days when people listen but do not comprehend and look but do not understand. These seem like days when people's minds are dull, their ears are stopped and their eyes are closed. How long, O Lord?
Isaiah begins with a vision of God's order. "The whole earth is full of his glory," the prophet sees.
Only when we have a transcendent vision of God's order and presence throughout creation can we have the hope and courage to look upon the foolishness and waste of our day. God is always moving beneath history, for God's passion is God's creation. We have seen in the cross of Christ that God works even through the violence, evil and destructiveness of humanity to bring about new life -- healing and reconciliation.
Isaiah will take a political stand in the name of God. He will get in the middle of the political fight. He will tell the king of Judah, don't be afraid of the attack from Israel and it's allies. They can't really threaten you. Do not join an alliance with Assyria to protect you from Israel. The famous prophecy about a child named Immanuel is a political message to King Ahaz of Judah. It is a message Ahaz rejected. Isaiah said that the king's decision would be costly. Isaiah was accused of political conspiracy.
But Isaiah kept working. He kept speaking and writing. He kept interpreting the contemporary political situation in the name of God.
How do we participate in God's work amid the contemporary political situation? How do we stand firm on the values that God has charged us to defend? In Christ, we are to be a people of compassion, love, generosity, healing, and justice. We are to live the values of the Kingdom of God, where lost sheep are searched for and found, where multitudes are fed, where the sick are healed, where the meek inherit the earth.
We are called to be the Isaiahs of our day. Speak truth to power. Keep speaking, even when your message is rejected. That's what Isaiah did.
Hold the vision, the great vision of God's glory filling the earth. Then speak to Ahaz. Do you know your Senator and your Representative's telephone number, email and mailing address? It's easy to find. In the Name of God, what would you tell them?
Richard Baxter, Pastor and Writer, 1691
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 936)
Psalms 38 (morning) 119:25-48 (evening)
Isaiah 6:1-13
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
John 7:53 - 8:11
As we read Isaiah today, it begins ominously with a vision at the Jerusalem Temple in Judea. "In the year that King Uzziah died..." We do not know the year, but it is between 742 and 736. It was a time of turbulance and political intreige. Assyria (now central Iraq) threatened the region. In both Israel and Judah there were pro- and anti- Assyrian factions urging either alliance with or resistance to Assyria. At one point, Israel allied with several neighbors to force Judah to join an anti-Assyrian coalition or else they would effect a coup. Judah allied with neighboring nations in what amounted to a form of a civil war pitting Israel and Judah against each other. These were threatening and complicated times. These were also times of relative wealth and power for both Israel and Judah. Political and economic strategy lie behind the words of the prophet.
Isaiah has a transcendent vision and audition. He hears the hymn of the heavens, now enshrined in our Eucharistic liturgy: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." Isaiah is called to prophesy: "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And I said, 'here am I; send me!'"
The commission is awesome and awful. "Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand. Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.' Then I said, 'How long, O Lord?'" The answer is ominous. Only after catastrophe will the people awaken. The only promise comes from the stump of a burned tree.
These seem like days when people listen but do not comprehend and look but do not understand. These seem like days when people's minds are dull, their ears are stopped and their eyes are closed. How long, O Lord?
Isaiah begins with a vision of God's order. "The whole earth is full of his glory," the prophet sees.
Only when we have a transcendent vision of God's order and presence throughout creation can we have the hope and courage to look upon the foolishness and waste of our day. God is always moving beneath history, for God's passion is God's creation. We have seen in the cross of Christ that God works even through the violence, evil and destructiveness of humanity to bring about new life -- healing and reconciliation.
Isaiah will take a political stand in the name of God. He will get in the middle of the political fight. He will tell the king of Judah, don't be afraid of the attack from Israel and it's allies. They can't really threaten you. Do not join an alliance with Assyria to protect you from Israel. The famous prophecy about a child named Immanuel is a political message to King Ahaz of Judah. It is a message Ahaz rejected. Isaiah said that the king's decision would be costly. Isaiah was accused of political conspiracy.
But Isaiah kept working. He kept speaking and writing. He kept interpreting the contemporary political situation in the name of God.
How do we participate in God's work amid the contemporary political situation? How do we stand firm on the values that God has charged us to defend? In Christ, we are to be a people of compassion, love, generosity, healing, and justice. We are to live the values of the Kingdom of God, where lost sheep are searched for and found, where multitudes are fed, where the sick are healed, where the meek inherit the earth.
We are called to be the Isaiahs of our day. Speak truth to power. Keep speaking, even when your message is rejected. That's what Isaiah did.
Hold the vision, the great vision of God's glory filling the earth. Then speak to Ahaz. Do you know your Senator and your Representative's telephone number, email and mailing address? It's easy to find. In the Name of God, what would you tell them?
Lowell
__________________
| Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: -- Morning Reflection Podcasts About Morning Reflections "Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer. Evening Prayer begins on p. 117 An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at missionstclare.com -- Click for online Daily Office Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html -- Click for Divine Hours Discussion Blog: To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, or click here for Lowell's blog find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts. |
| The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love. See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org Our Rule of Life: We aspire to... worship weekly pray daily learn constantly serve joyfully live generously. Lowell Grisham, Rector St. Paul's Episcopal Church Fayetteville, Arkansas |
posted by Lowell @ 8:18 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
—Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam
Peace, Janet
Thanks for the fine MLK quote,Janet. It stuns me that the same people who so enthusiastically supported a very questionable invasion of Iraq, then never funded it (the first war in our history that did not include a special tax provision for its funding), are now those screaming loudest about deficits, and (more irony) extending deficit building tax breaks to the richest. Mind boggling foolishness.
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