Don't Just Sit There

Friday, December 18, 2015                                                                    Isaiah 42:10-18
Whitney Booth

A few weeks ago, I gathered with my small group of seven high school junior and senior girls on the blue denim couches in the youth room to read this passage and listen for God as we hope for something new in this season of Advent. In light of the ongoing episodes of inexplicable violence happening around the world and in our own country, we felt that the prophet Isaiah’s words were deeply applicable to the desperate situations of God’s people today. As Isaiah praises God for the glories of the earth and calls us to praise God alongside the majesty of nature, there is also a call to action in this prophet’s message. The people will no longer remain silent in our fear of the darkness, but will work to help usher in the light that God promises, as the prophet declares.

The counter-cultural message of Advent that we’ve grown used to is that, instead of losing ourselves in the hustle and bustle of the secular season or rushing to celebrate the manger scene, we’re called to be still, to hope, to wait. We hear that Isaiah is pushing us a step further, not only to wait but to do so actively. God calls us to join in with the work that is needed, to bring about the radical love that we wait for Christ to bring as God bends down to be with us. But we know this work will not be easy -- we will go through the pain to bring about something new and, like the labor pains that the prophet describes, it will be strenuous to turn the darkness into light. God does the world-changing that seems impossible to us right now, but we called to be active participants in our waiting and hoping. In trying to find God this season, amid the heartbreaking headlines that seem unending, let us remember that we have hard work to do as we wait.

Prayer: God, be with us as we wait. Help us to push through the pain to bring about something that is already on the way, to be active in our waiting, to bring the Kingdom near as we walk in hope toward the place where you will come and meet us in our mess. Amen.

(This devotion grew from the flourishing ideas and challenging responses of these seven wonderful young women in our congregation: Anna Avinger, Carrie Haynes, Claire Trabue, Marie DeWitt, Cammie Douglass, Anna Grace Cole, and Emily Jenkins).