Sermon: Rise and shine! Daylight in the swamp!
He brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of earth as nothing...but 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. (Isaiah 40)
This passage comforts us in times of personal distress and trial, reminding us of God's promise to see us through and give us new strength.
In its biblical setting the promise is political and spoken to the people as a whole. Israel is in exile, victims of their unfaithfulness to God. Overwhelmed by foreign princes and the powers of the day, the people feel abandoned by God and without purpose any more -- consigned to the dustbin of history.
But the prophet reminds them that princes and powers come and go, and as weak as God's kind of power seems at times, God is the abiding power over all. All princes come to the end of their rope at some point, and it's the people who wait for God's day to come 'round who then rise up, run with vigour, and lead the way.
Q: What powers, patterns and princes of oppression and death do we lament today as being so powerful that they cannot be resisted? Can we imagine their fall from power? What makes us part of the people who help lead in God's new way of being in the world?
In the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus said, "Let us go on to the neighbouring villages so I may proclaim the message there as well, for that is what I came out to do." (Mark 1)
Timing is everything in this story. The day before was the Sabbath, and it was a remarkable sabbath of teaching and healing in the synagogue and in a private home. The power of God to heal and renew life is clearly afoot in the world in a new way.
So come sundown -- the end of the sabbath and the beginning of the first day of the new week, all the village comes to the house where Jesus is, to share in the gift of healed life. Then near dawn, Jesus starts moving out to heal the world.
It is, after all, the first day of the week. God made the world in the first week; now in this new week it is time to re-make and heal the world God made.
Q: What is my spirit's song on Monday morning? A groan about having to start a new week? Or gratitude for the chance to start a new week?
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