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A thread for our Monday:
I find that I am turning to the prophet Isaiah more often these days. Something feels irreparably broken around us so the words of this ancient prophet are reading as urgent, current, and necessary for us in these days. /1
I find that I am turning to the prophet Isaiah more often these days. Something feels irreparably broken around us so the words of this ancient prophet are reading as urgent, current, and necessary for us in these days. /1
Right now, I need both lament and hope, both naming what is and holding out for what could be, you know? /2
This morning, I went to The Message paraphrase for a familiar passage in Isaiah 58. Eugene Peterson translates verses 11-12 this way: "I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - /3
...You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again." /4
There is something about that line "you'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew" that bent my knees and raised my head at the same time. /5
In many ways our world and the Church feels like old rubble. The old foundations have crumbled. And rightfully so, perhaps. I confess that I am lamenting the Church in particular at this moment. /6
I have been deeply, deeply grieved by the choices, behaviours, language, and posture of people who claim the name of Christian. /7
I’ve felt the cognitive dissonance of seeing those who were once spiritual fathers or mothers to me sell their souls to nationalism, cruelty, political power, white supremacy, spiritual manipulation, & idolatry. I feel as if I am standing in the rubble of the Church’s witness. /8
Other translations say it like this, "you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in." There is a breach, a gap between what we are called to be and who we are right now, and this morning, I sensed anew the invitation to be a repairer. /9
To be a restorer. Perhaps this is the work of these days.
But here’s one thing about restoration that I know - in case you didn’t know, my husband Brian works in the field of home restoration. /10
But here’s one thing about restoration that I know - in case you didn’t know, my husband Brian works in the field of home restoration. /10
After a fire or a flood or some devastation to a home, his team goes in to begin the work of restoring what has been broken or ruined. But before they can begin the work, they must pull out everything that is rotten and damaged. /11
So one of the first things they do after a tragedy is to identify all the damage. If one spot is missed it will undo the whole restoration. The best possible thing for the home is to find every bit of the damage. Those places, if left unchecked, will poison the whole home. /12
I don’t know if we’re in a Reformation right now or not. I do know there can’t be reconciliation until the truth is told. I do know that before we can begin to build something strong and warm and sheltering, we have to identify and name and remove the damage. /13
I am dreaming about that imagery now: first we find & deal with the damage, only then can we build something beautiful out of the rubble, repairing the breaches, restoring the streets. Maybe someday there will be dancing on those very streets, a feast in renewed communities. /end
