What Shall We Cry?, First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY 12/04/2011

What Shall We Cry?
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY 12/04/2011
Based on Isaiah 40:6-11 and Mark 1:1-8

This week is the second week of Advent. Last week we discussed the news of the return of Christ not as the end of time, but rather as a beginning of a new understanding of living in God’s presence. The scriptures that we are looking at this week are now talking about “preparing the way” for the coming of God’s representative, of who we have come to understand as Jesus of Nazareth, through the person of John the Baptizer. We have experienced this morning a prophet coming down our aisle proclaiming that message from Isaiah as one in the wilderness crying out “make straight the path. Prepare the way of the Lord.”
Mark begins his Gospel with these words: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah…” Mark is telling us that the arrival of Jesus was not a last minute event, a hasty decision by God to send his son, because the world wasn’t listening to previous prophets that spoke the word of God, rather Mark is telling us right from the beginning that God has been planning this event for a long time.
As we begin this second week of Advent, we also come before the Communion Table, where we will experience once again the act of remembering the Christ, of the selfless act in love of giving up his life so that we might enjoy a fuller communion with God. We come before this table after confessing our sins and being assured of our continuing relationship with God. Isaiah begins with the statement: “Comfort, O comfort my people, Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid…” This is the good news that God has shared from the beginning of time and was shared with the birth of Jesus, and is still being shared with us today. As far as God is concerned there is no more penalty held against us and we are able to come together at this table as debt-free people.
One of the temptations that can happen in reading about the one “preparing the way” is to assign that “voice in the wilderness” to someone other than ourselves. John the baptizer is the most famous voice, coming out of the wilderness, calling for repentance of sin. He declares himself as a person who is preparing the way for one who is greater than he; he is preparing the path for what Jesus’ ministry was going to be.
As your transitional pastor, I too am in many respects a voice like John the baptizer, preparing the way for your next called minister. But this scripture isn’t just for ministers; it is also for each congregation that calls itself a community of faith, based on Jesus’ teachings. The church is called to be the “voice in the wilderness.” Yet what is this voice suppose to be saying?
At times I find it helpful in substituting names and places that I am familiar with, into scripture as a way of making it more powerful. Hear how Isaiah speaks to us more directly with a few substitutions as he responds to God’s request to comfort God’s people. 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. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. Get you up to White Mountain, First Congregational, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, Rock Springs, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Wyoming, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might…
So we as Disciples of Christ are called to speak out the Good News of God. Yet what does that news look like? Isaiah says, “God will feed his flock like a shepherd.” This speaks about God providing for the physical needs of the world. We as the voice in the wilderness, need to speak up for affordable housing for those who earn minimum wage, we are to be concerned about issues such as adequate health care for all people. We are to help the poor, care for the widows and orphans, to be peace makers, to be people who build and renovate, and to feed those who are hungry.
Isaiah points out a second aspect of what God does, “God will gather the lambs in her arms and carry them in her bosom.” This speaks about the spiritual nurture that we receive from God. We are to speak out about the concern that God has for all of creation, in ways that people who have been disenfranchised can once again believe in and take heart and know also that God truly loves them. We are to be the voice of respect in a wilderness that works hard at striping people’s dignity away, a voice of care and love in a world that tells people - they are not worthy of the gifts of God, we are to be the voice of encouragement in a world that likes to kick people when they are down. This is how we let people know that God carries them in her bosom.
The third and last point Isaiah shares in “what shall we cry”, comes in his statement, “and gently leads the mother sheep.” God provides guidance, and we find that guidance with the help of the Holy Spirit. These are the messages that as a body of faith, as the voices in the wilderness should be crying out. We are not called to be timid and quiet, but rather be like John the baptizer, calling into account the actions of those who do wrong, demanding that they repent for their hard-heartedness, of their injustice toward those who are not as strong as they. We are not called to live in a cocoon of comfort, but seek comfort for those who are being marginalized by society’s obsession for self fulfillment and self-edification.
As we meditate upon these readings during this second week of Advent, let us remember, we are the voice in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. Amen