Advent 7

Saturday, First Week of Advent
3 December 2022

Isaiah 40

4 
Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
5 
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The words of Isaiah Chapter 40 are alternatingly simple and confusing. The chapter begins and ends with comfort: Israel is forgiven, and God is a gentle shepherd regathering his flock. But in between these bookends is the idea that valleys will be lifted and mountains brought low. Why? How is this good news and not terrifying cataclysm?
 
From the beginning, the story of God and humanity is this: God inviting his people to let him be God. To take rest when needed, to trust that tomorrow will come, to listen for His spirit. Instead, Eve, Israel, and we repeatedly seek our own independence. We try to find a 25th hour in the day, we speak without listening, we struggle with pride.
 
Zoom out a little bit though, and it becomes hard to ignore how small we are. On a geologic scale, or even that of a few generations, my own decisions, the ones that I lose sleep over, shrink. What remains is less and less the what I do but the how. And even more the with whom. 
 
Enter Jesus. Spending time with the least important, reminding us that justice belongs to the forgotten, demonstrating that service means more than honor. Flipping so much upside-down.
 
Flipping of topography. Re-creation. What you thought you knew is gone, and this is good news. All people will see it together.
 
Lord, thank you for not requiring that we be perfect or in control of all things. Help us to do what we can in the space and time you have given us, but remind us that we can rest in your sovereignty. Amen
 
Emily Sensenbach-Gopal ’01