Isaiah Wednesday
What with covid precautions driving us to somewhat minimize the time we are gathered together exposed to each other, it's likely we'll not read the Isaiah 40 lesson this Sunday, Advent 2B. We'll read/pray the collect though. It quite well sets the stage for the Isaiah 40 reading, which, historically in the holy stories of Israel, decades after Isaiah himself wrote (Isaiah 1-39), tells the people in Babylonian exile, God's punishment for their sins, that their exile is ending, they've paid double, all is forgiven, they are being restored to the Lord's favor.
Might it mean the same to us today, hearing the message some twenty-seven hundred years later? If you are in our adult Sunday School class, maybe you'll want to ponder that. Are we just reading Israel's old holy stories, or can we find assurance ourselves that God loves us in spite of the mess we make of life and creation? And if we find that assurance, how might we show our gratitude that God loves us anyway?
The Collect
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Old Testament Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Most of the docks along West Beach Drive still show what 10 Oct 2018 Cat 5 Hurricane Michael left behind.
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