Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11 Guess who's coming?

            “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me!” I have said these words to you and NOW I ask you this one question: Are you going to listen to me?! Are you going to listen to every word I say? Are you going to hang onto my every syllable? I would hope so because I have just spoken some of the most important words to you in our faith life.

            These words are not mine. They come from the prophet Isaiah. This is one of my most favorite books of the bible. There is so much that Isaiah has to say and he says it over some very important parts of the history of the Jewish people. A little history lesson is needed first. There are 66 chapters in this book and chapters 1- 39 (sometimes called first Isaiah) happens in what we know as Israel. Chapters 40-55 (Sometimes called second Isaiah) happens when the people are conquered and are forced into exile to Babylonia (modern day Iraq). Then chapters 56-66  (sometimes called 3^rd Isaiah) is written when the exile is over and most of God’s people are returned to the promised land.

            So we find ourselves in chapter 61 where the people have returned. It is also important to note that this exile didn’t mean that everyone got exiled. Only select people were exiled. There were people left behind that had to fend for themselves in the land of being conquered. So you can guess what happened: rules get changed, people who once owned things didn’t own them any more. Land that had been handed down through generations were now handed over to other people or families. So all the exiled people came back and not all their stuff was theirs any more. That is a problem, isn’t it? Imagine going away from your home or farm for a year—it had been in your family for generations—only to come back and find out it is not yours. It may now belong to someone from another country, or your next door neighbor.

            Either way you look at it, it is a sad thing. This loss of whatever it is that they lost causes sadness, anger, being a victim of a conqueror. That doesn’t seem to make sense and it does not seem fair does it. They should have gotten what was theirs back. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

            That is why the words “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me!” are so important. These are not Isaiah’s words that he chose to say at the time when people had returned to this Promised Land. Isaiah was merely the mouthpiece for God, almighty. Isaiah is telling the people that God is the one now speaking. He (Isaiah) is telling the people that God sent him to bring Good News to the oppressed, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives, and release prisoners.

            This news that Isaiah brings is Good News to these people who have lost everything; even their homes. God is using him to tell them that all is not lost, that there is a new day coming when there is that one thing to hold onto that used to be so far off to those who went into exile; and that one thing that they held onto is in the here and now and that is hope. Isaiah tells them that the God is proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. He is telling them that Hope has arrived because they ARE now back in the place where God called them to be…the land that God gave to them.

            Isaiah is telling the people of the Promised Land that Mourners will be comforted, cities that lie in ruins will be rebuilt, and they will be given a mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. Throughout this scripture reading, the prophet Isaiah tells them that all things will be made new. God is making that promise that God will return a brokenhearted people, broken-spirited people, and a people who felt that there was no hope…BUT all that will be made new because God promises to make all things new.

            God goes further in the promise of a new and everlasting covenant. This promise brings a knowledge of these people who endured all this and all the following generations will know that God blessed them. This covenant that God promises will leave these new generations clothed in salvation and wearing robes of righteousness. Isaiah uses the picture of a wedding, this beautiful picture, to tell the people of how precious this relationship will be; you know that time when all the bride and the groom look their best, and everyone puts on their best attire to show the importance of this relationship.

            Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is a time when we can relate to this story. We are sitting in this advent time and it seems like the world is turned upside down. People are angry everywhere, from what I have noticed, I mean, I am not usually in the cheery Christmas Spirit at this time of year but this year, I am feeling excited about things wanting to be a little peppier than usual and the majority of the news is stories of yelling, killing, unemployment, and it seems like you have to dig deep in the most obscure places to find a good story. It is like the world is turned upside down. Sometimes it feels like Hope, in this time and place, is lost.

            But we can receive a lot from the Words of Isaiah. I think we can look to this prophecy that God is bringing the promise of Hope into our world. We know the Hope, we see it in the manger once a year, don’t we? It is the Hopes and Fears of all the years, as the song says. Isaiah tells us that this everlasting covenant that God brings is the same blessings that are brought to these chosen people who have returned from exile. God promises to bring Good News to the oppressed, binding up the broken-hearted, liberty, and release. God will bring the year of the Lord’s favor to where there will be hope and comfort to a people who need those things.

            The Lord’s favor is coming in the form of a child. We are preparing for the hope that we are certain to see and experience in this coming Christ child. We are waiting with anticipation in the child that will bring comfort to a hurting world, a child that will bring Good News to the poor, A child that will comfort our broken hearts, and a child that will wear the garland instead of ashes and the Son of God who will be anointed with the oil of gladness. We await this child who is our mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit AND who brings the garment of salvation through his baptism and the robe of righteousness for our sake…for us; so that we will know that we have been blessed.

            God’s everlasting covenant comes to us in this little child and God promises that Jesus Christ will do all these things for us and my prayer is that because of what God promises and what Jesus does for us, we all say “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God! AMEN

Isaiah 40: 1-11 & Mark 1:1-8 "And Advent/Christmas Has Its Promises to Keep"

Isaiah 40: 1-11 & Mark 1:1-8

            Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: AMEN!

            So, as you know by now, I am a music fan. Sometimes a song just pops into my head when it comes time to think about a sermon and the scripture. Today was no different. One of my nephews got me hooked on this contemporary rock group that only gets together around this time of year. The group is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I have seen them three times and would love to see them again. When I found out they had a video album all acted out, I went and got it.

            My family and I were watching this video this past weekend and Robin and I will be watching it again before Christmas. There was this one song that began calling to me as I read this week’s scripture. The song is called “Promises to Keep.” One verse of this song goes right to the heart of our scripture readings: “And the dream is still alive, from that first December morning, and it always will survive as long as we can see, that the dreams we find in life are the dreams we tend to seek AND CHRISTMAS HAS ITS PROMISES TO KEEP.”

            That very last part “and Christmas has its promises to keep,” is what got to the heart of this second week in Advent. How so you might ask? The promise of the coming savior did not start with the birth of Jesus. This promise began long before that night in Bethlehem. It began in the words of Isaiah. In our first reading the prophet Isaiah (that voice in the wilderness) cries out “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah is telling us to make our paths straight for God’s coming into the world. He says that when we make straight the way that mountains and hills will be made low (I was going to break into Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, but another time). Everything will be level.

            What does that mean? It means that there is no place that will be able to escape the glory of the Lord. There is no place that one could hide because God will be able to find us all; whether we want to be found or not, and sometimes we may not want to be found. God will find us all. With all things level it means that God’s love and mercy will be everywhere. There will not be one place that can escape God’s merciful and loving touch.

            But it does not end there. In our Gospel reading we have another voice crying in the wilderness. This guy John who just happens to be the cousin of Jesus is this guy who is a little eccentric, to say the least; but, he cries out to “prepare the way of the Lord and his paths straight!” We have heard this before in Isaiah and now this messenger of God is telling us that this there is this person coming who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit…not just water but with more than that is pretty incredible.

            What John is telling us is that this one who is more powerful that John is bringing a lot more than just good tidings. John is telling us that God has made a promise. It is the promise to come into the world and be with a broken world. He is telling the people of Jesus time that there is someone special coming who going to do more than just take a look around; and this person brings the authority of almighty God.

            John is telling us that the promise that was made by God through Isaiah is coming to them and to us. John is telling us all to be prepared because God’s promise is that our lives are about to change, forever! It is the promise of God to come into the world to see and experience just how tough this world is. SO I would change the lyrics of the song to say “Advent has its promises to keep.”

            And we know the promise that is coming because the promise will be fulfilled on the night of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God’s promise is going to be kept. With that promise comes the call to make straight the way of the Lord. I think this is part of what advent is about; What does it mean to make the Lord’s path straight? It means that we prepare our hearts and minds and bodies to be changed. We open ears and eyes to see the coming of the Lord. We get ready for God to have a straight line into our hearts; and the way that we can do that is by letting go of all those things that distract us from God’s love.

            When we are focused on worldly things we become distracted. As we spoke this past week at the women’s bible study, this world is so full of loud noise. Noise in social media (I am not against social media), people yelling at one another rather than talking TO each other, people always wanting to be right rather than compassionate…with all this we put stumbling blocks in to our minds and our hearts. We put up barriers from past hurts, actions, and sometimes want to say or do hurtful things to others because we have been hurt.

            John is telling us that one of the ways to clear all that away so that God can get to our heart is to release all that. Confess our troubles, our sins, those moments when we may not be the most upstanding person and confess them to God. By confessing these things to God, we get rid of barriers so that God has that direct line to our hearts and minds. When we prepare by seeking God’s mercy and love AND forgiveness, we realize the promise of God and experience the anticipation of the coming Christ to change our hearts, open our eyes, and experience the love of God: AMEN!