Scripture Text: Isaiah 12

You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me. ²Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. ³With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

⁴And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. ⁵Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. ⁶Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

This passage is read during the Advent season in Year C (next year!).  The lectionary actually calls for us to begin at verse 2.  I don’t know why.  Maybe they didn’t want God to be getting angry at us in the midst of a pretty hard season. But that verse speaks of redemption.  It speaks of God’s ever-present faith in us.  It reminds us that against all odds, God welcomes us and comforts us.  God is ever-present.  I think maybe we are the ones that need to get it together.

We love this passage.  We love to say it.  We love to sing it.  It brings us joy.  It is our affirmation that we trust that God will save us, that we rely on that.  And we wait and watch for those lovely flowing waters of salvation.  The writer’s vision is one of liberation—to the exiles, to the world, to all of Creation, to us.  The destiny is clear.  God is walking us all toward salvation and that is indeed something about which everyone should be joyful.

But, honestly, I worry that all of these passages from Isaiah, all these promises that the “something better” is just up ahead may become a bit overly-saccharine, like visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads.  I don’t want it to come across like someone is dangling life just beyond our reach to tease us or something.  That’s not the way it is.  It’s easy to claim that things will get better but what do we do in the meantime?  What do we do while we are waiting for the promised liberation or the prophesied salvation?  What do we do while we are waiting for our joy to kick in?  So, did we forget?  Did we forget what we believe—that God, the very Godself, the Creator, broke through all time and space and entered this world as a baby to become Emmanuel, God-With-Us?  So go back and re-read this passage with that in mind.

Notice that it says “God IS my salvation”—not God will be or God might be or God will come when we do something right.  God IS my salvation.  There’s no quid pro quo like so many of us are often led to believe.  That’s pretty major.  The God who is in our midst is here to save us—not to see if we’re being good or doing right—just IS.  So, why aren’t we drawing water from those wells?  Those wells are everywhere, flowing with clean sparkling water.  We just have to get a bucket and draw out the water.  Maybe that’s it.  Maybe we don’t always have our bucket handy.  Maybe we’re so preoccupied with what we will be and the way things will turn out for us that we have neglected what God has given us to draw out water, to draw out joy, to draw out Light.

The thing here is that we tend to push our hope for “that day”, for our joy and our salvation, for peace to surround us, off until tomorrow.  We count on tomorrow.  And, yes, tomorrow is there waiting for us to enter.  But tomorrow is affected by today.  What we do today leads into our tomorrow.  The journey is now.  So, don’t get so wrapped up in what we DON’T have.  Look around you.  Look around at the hints of joy, the hints of peace, even the hints of salvation and redemption.  Prepare to welcome tomorrow.

Remember that the season of Advent is nuanced.  It’s not just about the future.  It’s also about what we do now.  God created us in Joy.  God created us in Light.  God created us in water—lifegiving waters.  It’s all for the taking.  We are called to always go toward who we are meant to be, who God created us to be.  But the journey is here, filled with joy and light.  So, take your bucket and draw out the waters.  Take joy.  Take Light.  It is yours.  God IS our salvation.  Take that too, for “great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel”—in your midst…and will be tomorrow.

I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy! Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all! . . . And so I greet you, with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.(From a letter by Fra Giovanni, 1513, as quoted in the introduction of “Take Joy”, by Tasha Tudor) 

Lyrics: “Another Day”, by Carrie Newcomer

Last night I awoke
I just couldn’t sleep
I’d read too much news
There was a dog on my feet
Too much to remember
Or not finished yet
A list of new worries
And older regrets

Let it go says my heart
It’s too late and too dark
This is just a chance to pray
Let it go for now darlin’
Tomorrow is another day

I’ve been looking for beauty
In these broken times
By making some beauty
In the world that I find
Some say it’s too late
It’s too much to brave
But I believe there’s so much
Worth being saved

Let it go says my heart
It’s too late and too dark
This is just a chance to pray
Let it go for now darlin’
Tomorrow is another day

Up on the roof is an old weathervane
In the shape of a fish swinging toward change
Let it go for now let it go

There are reasons to wonder
And witness to why
Troubled times coming
No way to deny
So I’ll lean into you
As you quietly breathe
And sense all that’s right
Still here and unseen

Let it go says my heart
It’s too late and too dark
This is just a chance to pray
Let it go for now darlin’
Tomorrow is another day
Let it go for now darlin’
Tomorrow is another day

Grace and Peace,

Shelli