Isaiah 35:4-7a
Proper 18 (23) - Year B
If we back up to the beginning of the chapter we hear about the wilderness and the dry land being glad, so glad they sing.
In the progression of the passage it could be the rejoicing wilderness that is to pass on the angelic message, "Don't fear."
What are our wilderness areas saying to us these days? Might it be, "Help!" rather than "Don't fear."? When you think of the wild places that folks would like to rape for commercial benefit, how far away does G*D seem?
When we can't protect the land how might we expect to have the blind see? When the sighted are only short-sighted we are increasing the number of functionally blind people, not reducing them.
Does it make a difference to you if it is the desert places in our lives that bring us a message of such deep joy or if it is Isaiah, the person, who brings this message? How would it change your preaching/teaching/living if we simply honored the environment without having to run its song through some holy person's lips?
It is the desert places that let us know that water isn't everything, so rejoice.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/september2003.html
Isaiah 35:4-7a or Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125 or Psalm 146
James 2:1-17
Mark 7:24-37
Raise a glass, "The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all."
May your heart be strong, not just from the drink, but in appreciation of a presence of G*D that sets you free to no longer judge rich and poor, but to live justice attempted and completed.
This open-eyed justice does away with acts of favoritism, in any direction, as we recognize our neighbor as ourself. This communal approach leads to mercy received, given, and shared. Such faith is practical, beyond cant.
- - -
be opened woman from afar
be opened Jesus so near
be opened ye deaf
be opened you onlookers
be opened scoffers and praisers
let us shape one another
in G*D's image
beyond hierarchy
beyond favoritism
beyond simply beyond