Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

Preached by Tammy Martens on December 7       

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Text:  Isaiah 40:1-11

There is something about the first snowfall of the season that fills me with a sense of awe and delight. Two weeks ago, Monday, as soon as I woke, I could feel that something was different outside. There was a brightness shining through the shade of my window and I walked down the stairs with anticipation of what I might see. And sure enough it was the brightness of the snow that filled our house with a warmth and calmness that made the quality of that morning easy to move into. Because of the snow, we started our morning in a different way. Our children, Gabriel and Lily, were very excited and received the first snowfall as an amazing gift from nature. Change was in the air!

As I look at this chapter in Isaiah, I can feel a change in the air as well. But the change described in this text, is a change that is being called forth from God; this is a change that the Eternal One is promising.
This passage is one of the most poetic chapters in all of Isaiah; rich in imagery and beautiful in its description of how God lives in relationship with humanity. The passage begins with the understanding that it is God speaking and giving a message to someone, maybe a prophet or an angel, instructing them to bring a message to the people of Israel. And the message begins with the word comfort. Tell the people of Israel that comfort is coming. Their time in Babylon in exile is over and they will receive comfort and mercy from God. Change is indeed coming!

And how this comfort will come about is described in three parts in the rest of the passage. First of all, in verse 3, we read that a voice calls out to the people, “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.” We get the sense that comfort will come in the act of preparing. Clear obstacles out of the road; move things off the path; get ready. In near Eastern custom there was often representatives sent ahead to prepare the way for the visit of a monarch. The picture here in Isaiah is that of preparing a processional highway for Yahweh’s coming to Jerusalem. Comfort will come when the people of Israel clear a way for God.

Comfort will come in the act of preparing. And do you notice where the people are to prepare? Right where there are. Their preparations for God’s coming are to take place right there in the desert, in the wilderness. They are not called to first move to a more optimal or inviting place and then prepare. They are to prepare right where they are, in the desert.

I love this understanding of spirituality. For us individually and collectively, the call is to prepare or clear out a space for the Holy One to be received. And we do this in the midst of the desert or wilderness we find ourselves in. Now the desert can be understood as a metaphor for a lonely place, a desolate place, and even a scary and wild place where demons live. Whatever our desert or wilderness we are in right this minute, right this second, we are called to prepare a way for Yahweh. We don’t have to clean up our true lives and make them tidy to receive God. We don’t have to get out of our lives to find God. We begin right where we are. We are called to open up a space in our hearts and in our lives so that we can receive comfort and care from the Source of all Life. Change is indeed coming and it begins in our preparations.

This call to prepare makes me sit up straight in my chair. It shakes me up a bit. And I wonder, do we need to do anything different in these days that would help us prepare for coming of The Grace of all grace? If we are called to clear obstacles off the path, what obstacles would we need to remove? Is there some pattern of behavior we could change that would help us live more fully in the Spirit of the Lord? This call to prepare beckons us to do something, anything different, that would help us to receive the coming of God into our lives.

And the passage goes on to tell us that as a way is made for God and the valleys are filled and the rough places made smooth, THEN the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all humanity will see it. This has got to be one of the most thrilling verses in all of scripture. It beckons us to use every muscle of our imagination—what will it look like, what will it feel like, what will it be like to see the glory of Yahweh?…
And this revelation will be shown to all humanity together. What in heaven’s name will that be like? All of humanity will see this indescribable glory together—it will not be an individual experience but God will reveal herself to all together.

The second step in preparing the way for the Lord is given in verse 6. The voice is heard again and instructs the messenger to “Cry out!” Another translation here could be “preach!” And the messenger responds, “But what am I supposed to preach?” You know this is what we pastors often ask every week.
And the answer given is a great and awful surprise. Preach the most dismal message possible: in a nutshell, tell the people they are all going to die. What is the idea behind this?

And yet, as I think about it more, it actually is the most appropriate message to give to the people who are to make preparations for their God. In fact, maybe we would all find it easier to prepare the way for God if we always held before us our mortality. Socrates recommended that we should “always be occupied in the practice of dying.” And in many cultures and spiritual traditions it is considered an act of wisdom to prepare for death throughout life.

The call then to preach to people that our lives are like the grass that dies and the flowers that fall is not meant to be a morbid message. But a message that helps us remember to whom we belong and to whom we will return. Don’t dismay, the voice says. Even though we will die, the word of the Lord lives forever; we receive comfort when we accept this truth into our lives—that our lives are like the grass that fades but we are kept in the great care of The Grace of all grace. Another step in our preparations.

Then the last voice from the text tells Jerusalem to go and proclaim the good news that Yahweh is coming. God is coming to care for her people and rescue them. The last verse describes God as a shepherd; one who takes care of his lambs, who gathers them and carries them in his arms. It’s a very intimate picture of God’s relationship with humanity.

In the 4 and 5 year old Sunday School class, the curriculum we use is called The Worship Center. And in this curriculum the theme that the children learn and hear about most often is God or Jesus as the Great Shepherd of their lives. They hear different variations to the story—God leading the lambs, God taking care of the lambs, Jesus finding the lost sheep, and Jesus protecting the sheep from the wolf. And what is so powerful to me is how all the children absolutely love these stories and this imagery of God as their shepherd.

My 4 year old daughter Lily loves to pretend she is a little lamb and that I am her shepherd. Her favorite part is to go out and get lost and then I come and find her. She LOVES the part when I find her and tell her how happy I am that I have found her. She will do this part of the story over and over again. And this ignites my religious imagination.

The 4 and 5 year olds and Lily help me connect with this imagery of God as my shepherd. They help me “become like a child” and imagine myself as one of God’s lambs.

Here then is the last piece in our preparations; to share with one another that God is our gentle Shepherd; who leads us with tenderness and great care; who comforts us with everlasting goodness and kindness and who gathers us into the wellspring of hope and love.

Prepare a way for the coming of Yahweh; for the coming of the Maker of Peace. Amen.