December 4, 2005
Is 40:1-5, 9-11 Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power
the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
So often I go back to the image of the lamb in the hands of the shepherd and I picture myself the lamb in the hands of God. It is a comforting, caring protected feeling. It makes me feel as if nothing can take me away from God when I hold onto that. With God all the shapes of the landscape can change and the desert can bloom. There is no thing that is impossible with God.
It is a joyful, hope filled reading this second sunday of Advent and the anticipation of the further joy is felt in the entire tone of the reading. Shouting from a mountaintop about the Lord coming unafraid. What a free and inspiring act to perform.
her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power
the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
So often I go back to the image of the lamb in the hands of the shepherd and I picture myself the lamb in the hands of God. It is a comforting, caring protected feeling. It makes me feel as if nothing can take me away from God when I hold onto that. With God all the shapes of the landscape can change and the desert can bloom. There is no thing that is impossible with God.
It is a joyful, hope filled reading this second sunday of Advent and the anticipation of the further joy is felt in the entire tone of the reading. Shouting from a mountaintop about the Lord coming unafraid. What a free and inspiring act to perform.
posted by Joan Morris at 4:51 AM
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