(part of the “Waiting on the World to Change” Advent Series)
Isaiah 40: 1-5, 27-31
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every 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. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 30Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Today is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. It is the moment when the north pole (for the northern hemisphere) is tilted the farthest away on its axis from the sun. I think it actually occurs at 9:03 a.m. this morning if you want to put it on your calendar. Today is the day of the year when the light hours are the shortest and the dark hours are the longest. It’s always been interesting to me that our celebration of Jesus’ birth is placed just after the solstice. (Because, honestly, we’re not sure when it ACTUALLY happened. That day was just sort of assigned.)
This passage from Isaiah is the beginning of what most scholars call “Second Isaiah”. It was probably written toward the end of the Babylonian exile and is directed to those that had been forcibly removed from their home in Jerusalem several years before. Now, this was not what we typically know of as “slavery”. Most of the Israelites were allowed to have their own homes and come and go as they please. They were even allowed to work for a living. But it was a different culture and a different homeland. Everything that they had known before was gone. The society was different. The culture was different. They weren’t really sure how to maneuver in this new way of living and life around them was surely one of darkness. It would be easy for them to assume that God had deserted them, that somehow God had left them in a place to which they were unaccustomed and had just left them to fend for themselves. At the very least, their image of God probably had to be recast.
But around 539 BCE, Cyrus, the ruler of Persia, conquered the Babylonians and so many of those exiled were given the chance to return home. So, the exiles are filled with a message of trust and confident hope that God will completely end this time of despair and hardship. Speaking to a city and a way of life that is all but destroyed, the exclamation is made that the exile is indeed about to end. God is coming to lead the exiles home, bringing redemption and restoration. In essence, God is coming to show them a new and different way to live, a new and different to look at life even in the midst of darkness.
In this writing, there is no prophet even mentioned. Instead, here, it is God who is speaking. It is God who is promising a new start for the city and a people whose lives today lie in ruins. Out of the void, out of the ruins, it is God’s voice that we hear. Out of the darkness, a new day is dawning. “Comfort, O comfort my people…Remember, that every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then my full and final glory will be revealed.”
Now notice here that God does not promise to put things back the way they were before. God is not limited to simply rebuilding what was taken away. No, God is recreating, making new, lifting valleys, lowering mountains, and ultimately, when all is said and done, revealing a glory that we’ve never seen before in what is essentially a brand new Creation, a brand new “in the beginning…”. “See, I am making all things new.” “Comfort” here is not just solace or consolation; it is transformation. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”
As I noted yesterday, we live in an “in-between” time. Old English would refer to it as “betwixt and between”. It is that time of liminality. We live in an overlap of time. The light is shining into the darkness but we are experiencing these long hours of darkness. I’ve been reading some of the Psalms and Scriptures of lament lately. It is those writings of grief for the world. It is those writings of grief for us. It is those times when we just want to shake our fists and scream at what is going on. It is those times when we are waiting for the world to change. We modern-day Christians struggle with that. Somewhere along the way we were told that we were supposed to be well-behaved around God. But I think God can take anything we dish out. And, to be honest, God is not a casual acquaintance. I would like to think that I am close enough to God to get angry sometimes.
This passage from Isaiah is an answer to those laments. It’s not saying that bad things won’t happen; it’s not saying that the world will be perfect. It’s saying that things are going to get better, that God is recreating us and the world even as we shake our fists and shout into the abyss. Living as a Christian means that we are constantly pulled and stretched between the poles of longing and lament, of hope and despair, of grief and resurrection. It is all part of our faith. We do not live in some naïve state of being with the belief that God will somehow remove us from the reality of the present. No, we are asked to be here, living in faith. We are truly people of joy and hope. That’s why the woes of the world hurt us so badly. That’s why we grieve. That’s why we lament, a holy practice of lament. That’s why sometimes we shake our fists and scream into the lamentable abyss. And God comes and sits with us, Emmanuel, God-with-us, and offers comfort and renewal, restoration and hope.
“With This Bright Voice” By Amanda Gorman (for 2025 UNICEF campaign) With this bright voice We speak— Audacious and audible.
What yesterday we might have called obstacles Today rise as opportunities That make us unstoppable.
We respond In every strife In every struggle
God did not wait till the world was ready, till nations were at peace. God came when the Heavens were unsteady and prisoners cried out for release. God did not wait for the perfect time. God came when the need was deep and great. In the mystery of the Word made flesh the maker of the Stars was born. We cannot wait till the world is sane to raise our songs with joyful voice, or to share our grief, to touch our pain. God came with Love. Rejoice! Rejoice! And go into the Light of God. (Madeleine L’Engle)
Lyrics:
[Verse 1] I’ve seen more than I, I wanna see The people I love turnin’ on me But I know, I know, I know, I know there’s a A better day comin’ I’ve been dreamin’ that one fine day All my trouble gonna fade away And I know, I know, I know, I know there’s a A better day comin’
[Chorus] Woah-oh, woah-oh A better day comin’ Woah-oh, woah-oh A better day comin’
[Verse 2] And it’s harder holdin’ on to forgiveness To lay those ghosts to rest Oh, but the sun can rise out of the darkest night No anger, no bitterness Can fill the hole inside my chest Too long, too long, too long, too long have I Have I been runnin’ Ooh, that blue horizon ain’t far away I hear it callin’ out my name And I know, I know, I know, I know There’s a better day comin’ The sun’s gonna rise out of the darkest night It’s gonna change everything, woah-oh
Dancing to God 
What is frightening is that what some so-called ‘Christians’ think MAGA is