Parading With Prancing Pines

This is the reflection on Sunday's first lesson that was sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. What are your thoughts?

Isaiah 55:10-13 The Message

10-11 Just as rain and snow descend from the skies

    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,

Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,

  producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,

So will the words that come out of my mouth

    not come back empty-handed.

They’ll do the work I sent them to do,

    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

12-13 “So you’ll go out in joy,

    you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.

The mountains and hills will lead the parade,

    bursting with song.

All the trees of the forest will join the procession,

    exuberant with applause.

No more thistles, but giant sequoias,

    no more thornbushes, but stately pines—

Monuments to me, to God,

    living and lasting evidence of God.”

Isaiah is addressing the exiles from Judea, which includes Jerusalem. God speaks through Isaiah to the captives in Babylon in the 6th century BC. They longed to return to the Holy Land and yet, for many, Babylon was all they knew. God sent them there as punishment for their disobedience to God’s commandments.

  

God had promised that one day God's people would return to their homeland. Here God tells them that time is now! There will be a parade back to Judea and with even nature getting involved--mountains, hills, and trees. All creation rejoices in God's faithfulness to God's promises.

But we aren't in exile. We're in our own homeland. What does this passage have to do with us? Besides being beautiful poetry that sings of God's wonder and promises, we need to think about how this applies to us here in Chautauqua County.

Some of us are in an exile of sorts. For months we were stuck in our homes. As much as we love them, it had gotten to be a bit much for many. COVID 19 exiled us from our regular daily activities of work and school, of going out with friends for dinner on Friday evenings.

No flying to see far-away family (for us to Kansas City to see my son, his wife, our granddog, and grandkitties). No drives to nearby places to see friends and family (going to Rochester to see my daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law, and multiple fur-babies).

Much has changed in these months: how we worship, how we visit, how we shop; you name it! We’ve been changed. Things are opening up. We’re in Phase 4, but we still need to be careful. In some ways, our lives will never be the same. However, we are coming out of COVID exile and as the prophet wrote,

“… you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life" (v. 12).

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