December 14, 2010

Isaiah’s Spirit for Today’s Divided Nation

All Advent long we have been hearing the prophetic words of the 8th century prophet Isaiah as he rails against the rulers of his day and holds out a vision of a positive future for the people of Israel. We need his voice in our own time as our earthly leaders’ feet of clay reveal the lack of vision in our own time. Without a vision the people perish.

In tribute to Isaiah, I offer this prophecy of hope for our own time:

Though we live in a time of deep darkness

A light will shine.

Though today we are divided,
Unable to hear one another’s cries,

We will soon cry out together,
“Enough is enough; our time of deliverance has come.”
Thanks be to the God who delivers us.

For not by fire or water this time by the pure will of the people’s hope
-the same hope that envelopes all creation-
God will dream in us a new dream and a new vision will come to God’s people

Then as one we will know -
That all children should grow and learn unfettered by fear and poverty,

That elders should sleep in peace in their own beds until their last days,

That the waste of war must end for it is an affront to God,

That God’s ravaged earth must be restored and each of us demand less not more,

That true differences do exist among us and can be celebrated instead of dividing us.

This new vision must begin somewhere, sometime, somehow.

May it be born anew in us this very day.

These last days are the advent of a new age. May hope thrive in you in this darkening season so that a new light might shine.