Isaiah 40: 21-31
As today marks the high holy day of the football season, commentators have been sharing their thoughts on the place of football in American society. Columnist George Will said he believes, “Football combines the two worst things in American culture: football, he says, is “violence punctuated by committee meetings.”
Even for those who are usually football agnostics, today’s Super Bowl may have some interest. It’s a rematch of the Giants and Patriots clash four years ago when the undefeated Patriots, couldn’t quite muster the energy to prevail over the wild card Giants, who pulled ahead in the final half minute of the game, one of the great upsets in football history. This year, both teams will face the challenge of trying to go the distance against a strong opponent, to either repeat or reverse the upset of their last Super Bowl contest.
Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah tells of a time when God’s people were likewise weary, trying to go the distance against a powerful opponent. They found themselves in exile in Babylon, the stronger enemy of their country.
They found it hard to remember God’s goodness to them, hard to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land. And things were made harder for them, as they knew it was in part their own actions that had brought them to this difficult place. They believed the exile had come to them as a consequence of their turning away from the ways of God.
People in our day know some of this weariness in trying to keep afloat in an economy that is starting to show signs of life, but has taken a toll in recent years. Students prepare for graduation, and wonder how they will find work as more experienced workers compete for scarce openings, and the long-term unemployed struggle to maintain their confidence with each passing month.
As with the exiles in Isaiah’s time, there has been an acknowledgement over the past couple of years that we as a society had a part in bringing about the economic reversal, with commentators citing the easy home loans and free flowing credit of the years leading up to the financial downturn. Somehow, we had forgotten that our source of strength and security was not in building up a barrier of material provisions and comforts, for these can be taken away in a world where moth and rust consume our earthly treasures.
Into our times with all their uncertainty, we hear a new note sounding through the voice of Scripture. Isaiah comes with challenging questions, “Have you not known? Have you not heard…the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” The prophet calls us back to the very beginning, to the God who sets the stars in their courses, before whom the rise and fall of nations is as the turning of the tide.
For his people in exile, Isaiah was reminding them that God had made the stars, and moon and sun, things that were worshiped as gods themselves in Babylon.[i] God is before all and beneath all that lives. It is on this bedrock foundation that we are invited to build our lives, on a rock that cannot be shaken, whatever winds may blow through our lives.
When we wonder what to hold onto in challenging times, we are given this promise: “they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.” Somehow the way to stay sustained in it all is linked to waiting, to developing patience as we wait for the Lord. While we wish for a quick resolution of our worries, a job for an adult child, or a year that will bring better health or happier relationships, instead, the prophet reminds us to wait for the Lord, to learn trust in God’s presence and power.
We need this reminder, because in hard times, people sometimes wonder if God notices or cares. We are tempted to become
what one scholar calls “theological amnesiacs,”[ii] forgetting the presence and care of God in our lives. This can happen when we’re reminded with each day’s news how hard the times are. In a recent survey, they found that while one in ten Americans has been receiving food stamps this past year, for Oregon, the number is closer to one in five.[iii] Yet the words of Isaiah remind us that through it all, God remains creator, sustainer, redeemer and friend. And we find ways to join the work of God’s kingdom in serving those who hunger, Some of you volunteer on Wednesdays at Lane County Dining Room, or are bringing canned goods for the food drive, or donations for the food pantry in our kitchen from which we serve hungry people stopping by the church during the week.
Isaiah goes on to assure us that God will renew our strength, so we can run and not be weary. We watched some of the Australian Open tennis lately, including a bit of the nearly six hour final between Nadal and Djokovic, played in grueling heat. Nadal was finally beaten down, wearied by the onslaught of his opponent.
God promises that in his strength, we will run and not be weary, we will walk and not faint. We are given strength for the service to which God calls us, both individually and as a church. Looking at the great response we’ve had to our special needs drive, all the warm clothing and housewares that have come in to meet the needs in our community, it would be a huge job for any of us to sort through it all. But day by day, many of you have helped by bringing donations, volunteering to sort and pack, and tomorrow, others will be here to help deliver and see things safely to where they can do the most good.
The good news of our Scripture is that by God’s Spirit, “we will mount up with wings as eagles.” From the place where eagles soar, we look out on a wider perspective, above the challenges that cloud our vision.
In one of the neighborhoods where I walk our dog, there is a closed loop of a road, what used to be called a dead end, though now the signs say something more benign, “no outlet.” Life can feel that way at times; when a relationship is strained, yet there are no other options, when a diagnosis leaves us with a couple of choices, neither of them good. At times, it can feel like there is no outlet.
So it is as well for those who have lost a lifelong companion, as friends did this past week. He had been diagnosed only months before, and she had been at his side, in sickness and in health. Now she will go on alone, as he makes that final journey to the “undiscovered country” from whence “no traveler returns.”[iv] At such a time it can be hard to envision the path ahead, yet we are promised God’s presence with us even when the way leads through the darkest valley.
God promises we will mount up with eagles’ wings, and from that height we can recall God’s faithfulness in the past, and God’s hope for the future. As the economy continues to impact families under the specter of foreclosure, and the recovery moves at a glacial pace, we can call to mind how God sustained our parents and grandparents through challenging times in years past. That memory can give us peace that God will keep us in our day, even as he kept them in theirs. After a time, life will turn again as it did for Isaiah’s exiles, who after long waiting were led home in joy.
We have felt a time of waiting in our church as well, as we have moved through the past couple of years, getting back on our feet after the interim transition, treading the choppy waters of the economic downturn. Now as we live into a new year, there is a sense of change stirring, as new members have joined us and our stewardship and service is gaining strength. In our Bible studies and contemplative worship and retreats, we have waited for the Lord, and God is renewing our heart as a church for a joyful new chapter of life together.
As we look ahead, our renewal of strength will come not through our own efforts, but by the Spirit of God. I remember some years ago hiking at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the trail head for the Appalachian Trail. It’s a steep climb to the ridge, with loose rocks and winding switchbacks, and in the Georgia heat, it was hard going. After more than an hour of steady hiking, boots dusty from the climb, we reached the summit, with a beautiful view out over the hills of pine. You could hear your heart beating, and the wind sighing in the trees.
The strange thing was, when we got to the top, off to one side, there was a group of people who were all dressed up, the women in skirts and coiffed hair, the men in khakis and button downs. I wondered how they had made the climb so unscathed. I asked one of the women, who said their tour bus had brought them up the back side of the mountain; from there, it’s just a short walk to the summit!
Part of what the story from Isaiah has for us is a reminder that when our human strength fails, when we are weary from the climb, God can renew our strength, God can bring us up the other side of the mountain, where the way is clear and the footing is sure.
So today Christ invites you to come to the table, find strength for your journey, and food for your soul. If we wait for the Lord, God will make us soar like eagles.
Let us pray: sustain us by your Spirit, that wherever we find ourselves in life’s journey, we may run and not be weary, we may walk and not faint. In the name of Christ. Amen.
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