By: Erin M Diericx
A sermon given on Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8.
May my mediation of my heart and my words of my mouth be pleasing to the Lord.
Our spiritual journeys take place over our lifetimes. These journeys have their struggles where individuals wrestle with who they are, with where God’s presence in their lives, with their call in the world, with their sins, repenting, and forgiveness. Individuals are struggling to make sense of what is happening, how best to care for their loved ones. Individuals are struggling financing; individuals are struggling to meet their basic needs of foods, shelter, and clothes. Parents are struggling with their mental health as they struggle to provide for their children, and possibly make do with less than adequate resources. Public servants are struggling to meet the demands of the number of patients lined up in hallways and parking lots in ambulances and beyond. Children and grandparents are struggling with not being able to physically visit one another, making memories, especially during the holidays when memories and traditions are being made. With travel being limited, individuals are missing visiting family members and friends over Christmas and New Years. It is an unsettling time; a time where it seems to be paused, because the normal patterns of the day and months have been shifted to a new reality, which we have not been able to grasp.
Yet we hear John the Baptist proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his way straight,” in the wilderness (Mark 1:3 NRSV). It is such a dramatic proclamation, because it calls people, all people, to turn towards the Lord without any special requirements, such as circumcision. It is a call for Jews and Gentiles alike to turn to the Lord, to come into a deeper relationship with the Lord, by forming an emotional connection with the Lord, which takes time and commitment.
The pandemic has caused a natural time of repentance; something Christians usually do during Lent, before Easter. Church leaders and Christians are struggling with the underlying tones from the book of Revelation in the world; with the pandemic causing millions to die and even more to suffer, with the natural disasters worldwide: fires, earthquakes, and more. It seems as though the call to repent has been in the forefront for the past year almost, even if priests and pastors try to deliver messages of God’s love; the underlying tones of the times steep in.
In Isaiah, we hear words of comfort. God instructs Prophet Isaiah to comfort Israel, “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1-2 NRSV). God is providing comfort during a difficult time for Israelites. They undoubting swayed away from the Lord, and have been suffering the consequences of their actions. We see this pattern throughout the Old Testament, and possibly in our own lives. We experience a mountain experience, where it feels as though God has touched our very being; we feel invisible. Then we tend to forget we need God, because we feel so strong with the ability to do anything, so we fall, like Adam and Eve, like the Israelites. This fall causes to question where God is in our lives, in our communities, and in the world. We struggle to figure out where we fit into God’s plan. At times, it feels harsh. Individuals struggle with their faith, and they can even question why they should believe in God that is distance. The time after any fall can be difficult.
Over time, through prayer, by connecting with other Christians in fellowship, we begin to feel God’s presence in our lives, in our communities, and in the world, even as we continue to struggle with our identity as Christians and how we fit in God’s plan.
Usually we don’t have a pandemic causing most Christians to feel distance from God. Under normal circumstances, well under the old normal, only a handful of Christians within a fellowship, a community, are struggling in any moment of time. This allowed the fellowship, the community, to carry, to lift up these individuals to God, to remind them of God’s love, to show them where God is present in their lives, in their communities, and in the world. Yet we are living during a worldwide pandemic; we are living through a natural time of repentance worldwide, or so it seems.
So how can we, Christians, comfort one another when it seems as though we are all struggling alike? How can we lift each other to God when most of us feel distant from God?
Listen to the from Isaiah again, “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God” (Isaiah 40:1 NRSV). The word comfort rings in mind, as though it is a calling; a calling to do construction on our hearts in order to set our minds and our hearts on God, to take notice of the small and big ways God is present in our lives, in our communities, and in the world. It is a calling to comfort those around us, in the here and now, which is difficult, because we feel as though we are missing out on what should be, on our annual traditions, visiting friends and family.
However, I have always believed that God places you where you need to be. The why maybe relieved right away, or in the distance future. You maybe the reason someone pauses to think something through changing the course of their life. You may just comfort someone you usually would not have gotten the chance to share God’s love with and for them. God works, even through pandemics and natural disasters, through individuals to draw others to him. By doing so, we are preparing the way for others to know God, to know the power of his forgiveness, grace, and love. We are welcoming others into God’s family, and we are preparing ourselves and those around us for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.
O Lord, we are struggling as individuals, as communities, as nations, as your children. We come to you with heavy burdens that only you can contend with.
We lift up the sick and dying. May they feel your comfort and peace, and grant those who have died entrance into your heavenly kingdom.
We lift up those who are struggling to provide the essentials of food, shelter, and clothes for their loved ones and themselves. Grant the individuals and families the courage to ask for help, and for others to answer the call.
We come together, although physically apart, as one voice, one body, because we are never truly alone, especially when we turn to you. Please continue to call upon us to comfort your people, your children, in our lives, in our communities, in the world, through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord, with the Holy Spirit now and always. Amen.