by Unvirtuous Abbey
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 35:1–10
For Sunday, December 15, 2013—Advent 3
“Tell your sister...you were right.” ~ Anakin Skywalker, Return of the Jedi
“This is very cruel, Oskar. You're giving them hope. You shouldn't do that.” ~ Amon Goeth, Schindler’s List
“Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.” ~ Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption
"It's Christmas Day! I haven't missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can!" ~ Ebenezer Scrooge
A friend of mine once wondered out loud if God had abandoned the church as a medium. That the themes found so often in the Bible were now being better told in movie theatres, dance studios, novels, and other artistic forms. The point being that people go where they are fed, which in today’s world may not be the church, given the declining memberships in most denominations (there are exceptions, of course.)
Damaged Goods
It does seem that the church has lost, though, the ability to tell the story in such a way that people are engaged by it. Ask any 14 or 40 year old their favourite quote from Isaiah and you’ll see my point. Still, all is not lost, and within the stories that we tell are people gathered no long in mighty congregations but rather within broken communities.
Yet, today’s church is being treated more like a business start up: “The ten ways to make your congregation more welcoming!” “Eighteen things to do to get young people into the pews!” “How to have healthy committees!” There seem to be no books about how to show your own brokenness to the broken. There are no books about how to receive more grace by screwing up royally in life. In fact, there are no places within day to day life that let you be damaged goods. Churches can be that.
“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees,” writes Isaiah. I used to visit a woman who was 107 years old who said, with an impish grin, “I don’t pray on my knees anymore because I’m afraid I won’t be able to get back up.”
“Thou Doth Protest Too Much”
Isaiah doesn’t hold back. He spends roughly thirty three chapters of his book anticipating judgement for Jerusalem and the nations. There is a theory that for every insult you receive, you need to also receive “X” number of compliments in order to balance out that one slight against your character. The number of compliments vary, depending on your source, or even if you subscribe to the theory at all.
Yet, that’s exactly what prophets do, humble us, and it’s why they have a short life expectancy in scripture. And, by way of redemption, we too could join the ranks of people walking on Isaiah’s imagined highway of upon which “no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.”
Welcoming Path
Yet, if redemption is a theme of Isaiah, so (conversely) is exile. Exile is a real experience for many people, not just those in the Hebrew Scriptures, and not just those surviving in camps in conflicted countries. The doctor who delivered my son recently started attending church with her partner.
It was World Wide Communion Sunday and as part of our liturgy we opened the table to those who maybe believed, yet weren’t sure; to those who wanted a path, yet didn’t have one; for those who were unwelcomed from other tables yet were called to this one. As she left that day, she said, “I’ve never had communion before, seriously, thank you.” Churches can be that.
The Hardest Question
And this IS hard: Where have you seen the prophecy in Isaiah 35 come to pass in your life?