Daily Devotion – December 2, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Isaiah 40:1-11
40:1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
40:2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
40:3 A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
40:4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
40:5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
40:7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
40:9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
40:10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
40:11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
These verses of Isaiah are big. They paint a very big picture. And to churchgoers and to students of the faith, they are very familiar. They have been written into hymns and sung to encourage people for hundreds or years. Think of the many ways Isaiah’s words have rung out across the centuries.
Now for just a minute, try taking the point of view of someone for whom these words are meaningless, or just brand new.
Everything we do in our worship needs to be pushed through this lens too: if a stranger to the faith happened upon us, worshiping as we do, and that stranger happened to join us, what would this text mean to that stranger?
Advent is a time of year, the very early days of a new church year, when we all are coming, like relative strangers, to something new. We have to wait for it. We as believers may know what we are waiting for, but what if we were new to the faith and we were anticipating something terrific that we didn’t even know about?
This advent season, try looking at the prophesies and the Gospel of Mark as a revelation, an unfolding of a story that is brand new to us, filled with wonderful Good News. Because you are living side by side with plenty of people for whom this story has never hit home and for whom it would come as a big and wonderful surprise. Think about them. And be filled with wonder right alongside them. You might even invite them to live the wonder with you.
Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Give us the eyes of a stranger so that we might see this advent season as one seeing it for the very first time. Inspire us with the wonder of God coming to Earth to be bountiful to us. Amaze us. Amen.
