Happy New Year! Blessed Kwanzaa!
I hope as you read this, you are in a good space, a space of imagining your life in the new year, and seeing it as fruitful, and filled with love and grace.
I’ve preached countless sermons about this time of year, and the text below is often on my lips.
The Righteous Reign of the Coming King
9 [a]But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 [b]The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
3 You have multiplied exultation;[c]
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
4 For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Great will be his authority,[d]
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Listen to those images. A child is born. Endless peace is the way his new Kin-dom will roll.
And these images catch my attention. Darkness, though Black is fully beautiful, and darkness is a place of growth, the soil, the womb, space; in this poem and so many other places darkness is a metaphor for depression and death. This is contrasted with light, which is a metaphor for life and joy. I don’t love that, but it was the language of the time.
Black is beautiful, we know, and rich with possibility. It is in the dark place of the womb that this baby is fashioned, after all. The newness breaks in because there is a formative darkness.
Then, there is in the language of this poem/prayer a sense of celebration, like at the end of a harvest or sick loved one has recovered or something lost is found or a spontaneous celebration when war ends, and peace is upon us.
Harsh pictures of instruments of war and oppression being gathered up—military boots and bloody uniforms are burned, destroyed. The scene of war turns into a vision of perpetual peace.
Then there is a birth announcement about a particular baby boy, born in the 8th century BC, a baby born in the line of David, a sign of God’s saving grace on behalf of God’s people. We Christians often think this baby is Jesus.
To say a little more: Texts have diverse meanings. This text is about the birth of a specific child-who-became-king in Judah in the 8th C BCE, born, named. Taken to mean the coming of other kings. Taken to mean the coming of the Messiah. Christians take it to mean Jesus. But it is important to remember the meaning this Jewish text had for Jewish people. See what I mean?
Then the poem moves to the future, into the throne room of the baby turned King. This son of David, this King has names. Wonderful counselor, mighty God everlasting father prince of peace. He will administer justice, establish righteousness, and inaugurate a reign of peace. All which fulfill the plan and will of God, and it will last forever.
A son has been born for us. A son has been given to us. The birth of this baby is a sign of hope, the nature of the birth inaugurates a time of perpetual peace. The context is blood, gore, military action. It is a political text. It is a governmental text. It is a religious text, a spiritual text. There is no separation of church and state here. It is messy.
God’s intervention in the hot mess is the establishment of a just monarchy, a powerful monarchy that rules the kingdom in the will of God with God’s economy, God’s ethics, God’s peace.
For Isaiah, God’s will for justice, righteousness; God’s will for a healed and whole world, God’s peace salaam/shalom is made flesh in the birth of the most vulnerable and needy of all of humankind
A baby.
Listen above to Noel Simone Wippler sing “A Child is Born” during our Worship Celebration.
This God who loves us, intervenes in our story, uses wild and crazy strategies. Shows up on the edges, in unlikely ways, comes as a baby. A baby born to royalty. A wealthy baby who inherits power. BUT also
A baby named Moses, born to a Jewish family who grows up in Pharoah’s house, and liberates his people
A baby named John, born to old people, who grows up to prepare the way of the Lord,
A baby named Mary, born poor and is blessed and is called to participate in the birthing of a new LOVE order.
A baby named Jesus, born to Jewish outsiders; a baby born in dangerous circumstances, in a scandal, builds a Kin-dom of love on earth
A baby named Araminta Ross because Harriett and liberates the people.
A baby named Michael becomes Martin and leads a movement of justice….
Each baby born has the potential to save us. To save the world. Each life lived has the potential to transform our circumstances. To bring us peace.
Your life, an opportunity. Because you were born. And you are here.
Love,
Jacqui