Scripture as Dialogue

Isaiah 35
1The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus 2it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of theLord, the majesty of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”
5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. 9No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.10And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Scripture is meant for dialogue. When we engage a text, we should have a conversation with it, letting it seep over us, within us, and speak through us.

At Bible Study tonight, we read our week's worth of prayer cards aloud as usual. However, we interspersed the readings this week with segments of this scripture from Isaiah 35. The result was a dialogue that embodied the hopes and fears of the BSM community. Many of those present this evening were themselves homeless, in a wilderness. They were easily able to place themselves within this text as the prayers were read. They noticed the struggles AND the hope within this text.

Scripture should speak to us in every time and place. We can never relegate a text to being out of touch, out of date, or irrelevant. Isaiah was speaking to the Israelites in exile to give them promise and hope for better. Within this is the call to be attentive to prophecy, to seek the glory of the Lord and the good for all people. Thus, this text speaks to us with similar messages of hope and promise. It reminds us that God carries us through the times of difficulty, when we find ourselves in the wilderness, and sets us back on our feet. We should be joyful as we seek this out and help others seek this out.

As one of our friends said tonight:

There's a way back.

waiting

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. 8Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
9It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 10For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
-Isaiah 25:6-10

"I'm waiting for dinner," one of our guests said at Bible study tonight when prompted with the question "what are we waiting for." There is both humor and deep truth in this answer.  The question meant to be answered on a deeper level, yet dinner was happening in about 30 minutes.  This reflects a deep truth about waiting...it's hard!

The upcoming lectionary text for this Sunday contains a passage from Isaiah that speaks of a feast that is to be waited on (Incidentally enough, I preached a sermon on this for class last spring). This feast is greater than what we can possibly imagine. It is a celebration of the final victory of the Lord after a long period of anxious waiting.

Andrew Bird, one of the greatest and most creative singer/songwriter/whistler/violinists of our time, has a song about a celebratory feast at the end of times called "tables and chairs."



Hope is the operative word here. Hope for a bountiful feast. Hope for your first meal of the day. Hope for peace. Hope for equality. Hope for truth and justice to prevail for those who are oppressed.  The results of this wait for hope is a celebratory feast for all to enjoy.

Our meals at Broad Street Ministry (particularly the No Barriers Dinner) are seen to many as a bountiful feast.  The makeup of race and socio-economic class in the room give a taste of what a feast in the kingdom of God looks like.  However, peace, equality, truth, and justice have not prevailed yet.  There is always a level of anxiousness in our meals at BSM.  We all recognize how rough our world is.  Are we simply to just sit back and wait for things to get better before we can celebrate?

No.  This wait is one of action.  The hebrew origin of the word for "wait" here is "qava," which in its verb form here stands as an intensive, repeated action.  Thus, a more accurate translation is "to look eagerly for." This hardly sounds like sitting and waiting to me!  It's a reminder that we are in the "Kingdom Between the Times." The kingdom is here, yet not completely.  Christ has come to liberate us from sin, yet problems still exist in our world.  We have responsibility in this world to work towards peace, equality, truth, and justice.  Then, when we just can't wait any more, the kingdom of God we have hoped for all our lives comes to free us from oppression and sin for good.

What does this kingdom look like?  Who knows!  That's where hope comes into play.  Yet a bountiful feast is a wonderful way to imagine the joy found in this time.  May we continue to work for the kingdom!

I know we're gonna meet someday in the crumbled financial institutions of this land
There will be tables and chairs
Pony rides and dancing bears
There'll even be a band
'cause listen after the fall there'll be no more countries
No currencies at all
We're gonna live on our wits
Throw away survival kits
Trade butterfly knives for adderal
And that's not all
Woah!
There will be snacks, there will
There will be snacks, there will
There will be snacks!
-Andrew Bird