Admitting What's Wrong

 

Scripture

Isaiah 64:1-9 

 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
² as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
³ When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
⁴ From ages past no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who works for those who wait for him.
⁵ You meet those who gladly do right,
    those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
    because you hid yourself we transgressed.
⁶ We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
⁷ There is no one who calls on your name,
    or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
⁸ Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.
⁹ Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
    and do not remember iniquity forever.
    Now consider, we are all your people.     (NRSV)

Devotion

Did you know the book of Isaiah records the teachings of  3 different prophets?  The first Isaiah (who penned chapters 1-39) lived before the Babylonian exile.  The second Isaiah wrote (who is responsible for chapters 40-55) prophesied during the exile.  Finally, the third Isaiah (who is responsible for chapters 56-66) prophesied as the returned exiles struggled to rebuild Jerusalem.

Today's reading comes from Third Isaiah.  A remnant of survivors had finally made it back to the Promised Land. They had been overjoyed when they first set out from Persia towards Jerusalem.   When they saw that everything was in ruins and understood the enormity of the task that lies before them, they quickly became overwhelmed.  Rebuilding the Temple and the surrounding city seemed impossible without some sort of divine intervention.  

The prophet gave voice to the people's anguish by offering up a prayer of lament.  Isaiah listed the signs of God's presence with the people in the past.  He went on to say that the people had sinned so deeply against God and one another that they were like a filthy cloth.  Isaiah admitted that the people had no right to ask God for help.  Even so, he was banking on the Holy One being  merciful enough to forgive them.  Now that the people had repented of their sinful ways, surely the Holy One could be convinced to break through the barrier between heaven and Earth and come down to help them! The prophet was right.  God didn't tear a literal hole in the sky or cause the mountains to tremble with his footsteps, but God did help the people rebuild both Jerusalem and the Temple.

The season of Advent is a time to be honest about both our sinfulness and our deep need for God's help.  As another pastor told me earlier today, "You cannot light the Advent candles, before you lament."  It's pointless to ask for Christ to come give us light unless we can admit that we are lost in the dark.  So before we celebrate the joy of Christmas, let's take some time to admit our sins, mourn what is wrong with our world, and lift up those places where we need God's help.

What I lament most about this year is neither a virus nor one of the personal losses my family has suffered.  It isn't holidays spent alone or traditional events that were cancelled or the activities that had to be put on hold.  No, what I lament most of all is just how unkind, unjust, and uncaring we can be to our fellow humans.  Each day, I witness some moment of selfishness or callousness that makes my blood run cold.  Sometimes it even comes from my own mouth.  Our modern hearts are just as defiled as the filthy cloth that Isaiah describes.  Fixing it all--reshaping ourselves and our world into the people and place God calls us to be-- is a monumental endeavor. It can all feel like too great a task to ever be achieved.

In moments like this, we need to be like Third Isaiah. We need to lift our laments, admit to our mistakes, and ask the Holy One to forgive us--to come down and help us as God has of old.  And so I ask of you:  What sins do you need to repent of this year?  What laments do you need to make? Go ahead and make them now.  Then, when you have listed them, ask for God's help.  You can make that request trusting that God will respond to your cries for help, because he has already done so.  As the Shropshire Carol puts it,

Thus we were heirs to endless woes

Till  God the Lord did interpose

For so a promise soon did run

That He'd redeem us with a Son.

 

Prayer

 Ever-faithful God, you have created and all that is within it for good.  And yet, we acknowledge that there is much that is not good.  Forgive us, God, for the sinfulness of ourselves and of the world.  In particular, God, I ask you forgiveness for __________.  

God, help us!  Come down and mold us like a potters mold their clay.  Free this world from its bondage to sin and death so that all Creation may rejoice in your presence.  Amen.