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Dec 7, 2008
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Have you heard about the poor man who was trampled to death as he was working at a Walmart on "Black Friday?" It's a horrifying tale. He was a temporary worker there to do some minor repairs. The customers waiting in line (some since Thanksgiving evening) were so worked up that they stampeded the store when the doors opened at 5am to get the best deals.
What would the prophets of old have to say about this?
Do you think that Jesus might be turn over a table or two in a big box store?
Who can say?
Perhaps we can.
Perhaps we have to.
It's an incredible temptation for many preachers to take such a moment to jump up and down and scream. A judicious and perhaps even righteous use of profanity comes to mind. You know, when you have John the Baptist and Isaiah offered in the lectionary, it encourages such uncivilized or unprofessional behavior in the pulpit.
Uncivilized.
Unprofessional.
What is more uncivilized in this moment...my desire to use profanity or the fact that Rampant Consumerism has claimed another victim?
Maybe some of us are saying to ourselves, “It's just one man. It's collateral damage. I never knew him.” For the Christian, dismissive statements that begin with the words “It's just one man...” should be very carefully considered.
A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
What shall we cry? What do we say to a world such as ours in a time such as this?
The voice in Isaiah's vision suggests we cry, “Here is your God!”
I don't know about you, but that feels a little weak. And that's perhaps the most devastatingly sad question anyone can ask in a pulpit. “Weak? Is this weak?”
I just don't know.
Isaiah is preaching to an exiled Jerusalem. The elite of the country have been in exile in Babylon. And these are the words he chooses. Are they week?
No. They are prophetic. They are words of comfort. The prophetic is not simply an admonition, but also a word of comfort. We are to shout, “Stop!” We are to cry out and suggest an alternative word or action.
“Here is your God!”
As people kneel around a dying man in a Walmart: “Here is your God!”
As people share the memories of a departed friend: “Here is your God!”
As people around our nation suffer during uncertain economic times: “Here is your God!”
As we gather as family and share love during the holidays: “Here is your God!”
As we take time, give time, share time: “Here is your God!”
Literally. Those words. Not some convenient and inoffensive paraphrase.
Cry out, “Here is your God!”
These are words of comfort. This is the core of what is being commanded by the heavenly voices in Isaiah's vision...Comfort, O comfort my people. Say to them “Here is your God!” They are so laden down by distraction and every imaginable kind of exile. They are oppressed. They are confused. They are lost...they are lost standing in line at a Walmart and have need of a word from God, a word only you can give them.
The world is in need of people who will say such a thing, and not just from a pulpit (This is easy. This is so easy!)...not just on Sundays or even during Advent and Christmas. God calls out to all of us living at this moment to comfort, to comfort God's people.
Herald good tidings.
Lift up your voices.
(swear if you have to)
Do not fear.
Say to all...
...Here is your God! |
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