I don’t know whether it is the Christmas season or the current economic crisis, but my email inbox has been inundated with these promises to pass on mounds of money "with no strings attached" if I simply reply to the email. Most of them end up in the spam folder, but some get through. Lots of them get through. And there are basically two types: "You are a winner!" which then tries to get us to respond because the check is waiting – and "I chose you, dear friend" which then tries to tell us someone died and left scads of cash and to help disburse it they need my email reply to get the ball rolling.
Well, I’ve done enough reading and have lived long enough to recognize a scam when I see it. But I thought about adding up all the cash being offered in the past few weeks, discovering that if they were all legitimate it would be enough to give GM some hope. It is so much money that I guess I understand how some people get sucked into it. Maybe, they think, maybe this one is real. Maybe there is someone out there just waiting to pass on hundreds of thousands of dollars to a random email address. Maybe. And they just happened to choose mine. Maybe I did enter a contest in a foreign country I’ve never been to. Could happen. Couldn’t it?
The worrying thing that is that are so many for whom that is a logical argument. Or maybe an act of desperation. Things are tough out there. Every day it seems we read of another company going out of business, another spate of layoffs, another sign of recession, another front page full of disheartening news. Desperate times seem to call for desperate solutions. Today’s paper carried an article that hinted that our good mayor, while not giving approval, is not taking legalized gambling off the table as a possible remedy to our malaise. And while my United Methodist stomach turns at the very thought, I understand desperation. Might as well start responding to these email bail out offers.
Isaiah understood desperation. The people in latter part of this multi-themed prophetic tome anyway. There are at least two moods in Isaiah - the first half, when things were going well for the people as a nation, was a mode of warning and judgement. Pay attention, the prophet said over and over again. Look at what you are doing to one another. Look at how you are living, look at the source of your wealth, look at the foundations of your society. Does your socio-economic system reflect your status as a people of God? The second half of the book speak to a desperate people who have lost all, who are hungry and afraid and homeless, they are refugees, without status or rights. Now the mood shifts, the tone of the book is starkly different. Now it is a word of hope, it is a promise. And a call to live - even in desperate times - by a different standard. Take a look at our Old Testament reading for this Third Sunday of Advent:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. ... For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Things are bad, take my word for it. The prophet comes to these people and says...what? Good news. Good news for the oppressed, good news for the brokenhearted, good news to captives and prisoners, good news to those who mourn. Great. What is this good news? What do they get? Garlands, oil, a mantle. Uh. What? Where is the promise of wealth and goods? Where is the "you may have won" email that tells us we could be set for life with no more effort than hitting reply? Where are the goods?
God comes to people who are desperate and tells them to decorate? It doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t seem enough. Decorations are nice and all, but they hardly serve to make things better. They hardly can be counted on to change the world. Can they? Why do we bother, in the end? Are we just shouting in the darkness?
Well, yes, in a way. But shouting in the darkness is a noble profession. It is a calling. When we shout, when we decorate our homes and our churches, we are not saying that we are unaware of difficulties, we are not saying that we are oblivious to bad news, but we are saying that we choose to live by good news. We are saying that we choose to live by hope and not despair.
But what keeps this from becoming a rose colored glasses scenario is the prophetic call to act in hope. Look back at Isaiah’s words. The Lord brings the good news, the Lord through the prophet - proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor. But then we are the ones who bind up hearts, we are the ones who set people free, we are the ones who rebuild. We work because we believe. We build because we hope. And because we hope we are blessed.
Just like Mary. The Gospel reading I chose for this week is Mary’s song of deliverance called the Magnificat.
Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
What is interesting to me is the change in verb tense from Isaiah to Mary. OK, go with me here. In Isaiah it is all present tense, taking place, going on now. It has an air of a call to action, let’s get busy, there’s work to be done. Wonderful, good news kind of work. But Mary speaks (or sings) in past tense. It is already done. You can count on it.
Now that may sound odd to us, given that hungry aren’t filled, and powerful are still on their thrones. But I think the good news here is that the outcome is never in doubt. We may wonder how we get there in the end, but we never need to doubt that we will. That is our blessing, the confidence of hope. Even if takes longer than our lifetime, God’s promise will be fulfilled.
So, let’s decorate, let’s build up, let’s rejoice - because we have already won!
Shalom,
Derek
No comments:
Post a Comment