{"id":4503,"date":"2022-10-30T19:35:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T19:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/10\/30\/joy-and-protest-based-on-psalm-981-6-isaiah\/"},"modified":"2022-10-30T19:35:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T19:35:11","slug":"joy-and-protest-based-on-psalm-981-6-isaiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/10\/30\/joy-and-protest-based-on-psalm-981-6-isaiah\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJoy and Protest\u201d based on\u00a0\tPsalm 98:1-6, Isaiah 55:10-13"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou shall go out with joy, and be
\nled forth with peace, the mountains and the hills will break forth
\nbefore you, there will be shouts of joy, and all the tress of the
\nfield shall clap (shall clap) their hands.\u201d \u00a0So goes our final hymn
\ntoday, and so has gone our stewardship campaign this year.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Isaiah 55 for the win.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Joy!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Peace!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Imaginatively imagery of pure delight!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So, \u00a0I went to Walter Brueggemann to
\nunderstand better what is going on, and the great Prophetic Scholar
\ndid not disappoint. \u00a0He reminded me that Isaiah 40, the start of
\nsecond Isaiah, begins with
\nthe words, \u201cComfort, O comfort my people, says your God. \u00a0Speak
\ntenderly to Jerusalem.\u201d \u00a0The entirety of the passage is written to
\nthe exiles, with affirmation that God is not done with them yet.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That while the worst has come, it will
\nnot be their whole story. \u00a0That when things get hard, God still wins.
\n That God’s love remained with them, and hope continued.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our passage today is the very last part
\nof what scholars call 2nd<\/sup> Isaiah \u2013 this part of the book
\nwritten to the exiles to PREPARE them for God’s work of restoration.
\nAnd today’s passage imagines the joy of their homecoming. \u00a0The
\npassage ties together some of the work of the exodus with the work of
\nrestoration. \u00a0The rain and snow that can be counted on to produce
\ncrops remind the people of the desert wandering, and God’s
\nprovisions. \u00a0The verb even \u201cgo out\u201d is a verb of the exodus. \u00a0But
\nhere, in the \u201c2nd<\/sup> exodus\u201d it is quite different. \u00a0The
\nfirst exodus was hasty and fearful. \u00a0 But the restoration, this \u201cnew
\nexodus\u201d is joy, peace, and well-being.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bruggemann writes, \u201cBefore there can
\nbe any geographical departure from the [Bablyonian] empire, there
\nmust be a liturgical, emotional, and imaginative departure. \u00a0Israel
\nin exile must be able to think and feel and imagine its life out
\nbeyond Babylon’s administration. \u00a0Israel must so trust the rhetoric
\nof assurance and victory that it can flex its muscles of faith and
\nsense that the cadences of faith are more compelling than the slogans
\nof the empire.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And, this is that imaginative
\ndeparture. \u00a0It imagines creatures and \u2026 well, mountains and hills
\nand trees gathered on the roadside to watch the spectacle of the
\npeople returning. \u00a0As if it is a parade and nature itself is
\n<\/b>healed by the
\nrestoration of the people to their homeland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Instead of thorn and brier \u2013 symbols
\nof judgment and punishment \u2013 there are cypress and myrtle – signs
\nof growth and life and beauty. \u00a0The restoration of ancient Israel is
\nenvisioned to be the restoration of sustainable living, of the fair
\ndistribution of goods, the return of the ban on interest, the care
\nfor the vulnerable. \u00a0And that means the restoration of God’s values,
\nwhich was very significant for people who had been living in the seat
\nof power of a large empire because empires ALWAYS involve domination,
\nhierarchies, debt, and oppression of the vulnerable. \u00a0Brueggeman
\nsuggests even creation itself would be healed by this restoration
\nbecause empire destroys nature, but sustainable equitable living
\nexists in harmony with nature. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If it takes dreaming of leaving the
\nexile in order to prepare the people to actually leave the exile,
\nthis is some excellent writing getting them ready. \u00a0This is writing
\nfor life. \u00a0This is writing to remind us that life is possible, that
\nloveliness exists, that hope is reasonable. \u00a0As Brueggemann says, in
\nthis writing, \u201cAll are now at home, safe, beloved, free, free at
\nlast, Thank God Almighty, free at last.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As rain and snow leave the sky, to
\nbring life on earth, and grow food so too is it with God’s word that
\naccomplishes what it aims at \u2013 and it aims at joy, peace, and
\nrestoration. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In order to be ready to leave the
\nempire, to leave the exile, to return, to be restored, the people
\nneeded first to dream God’s dreams. \u00a0And God sent them dreams.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before they could leave in fact, they
\nhad work of letting go \u2013 I love his phrasing, \u201cthere must be a
\nliturgical, emotional, and imaginative departure. \u00a0Israel in exile
\nmust be able to think and feel and imagine its life out beyond
\nBabylon’s administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I preached a few weeks ago about how
\nready I am to NOT resonate with exile literature, and that does mean
\nthat I’m pretty excited to hear \u201cend of the exile, beginning of the
\nreturn literature.\u201d \u00a0But I keep noticing that leaving the exile
\nmeant not only leaving the exile but ALSO leaving behind the
\npre-exile-ancient-Israel. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Which is to say, I’m all for starting
\nto vision a post-pandemic life, but I have to keep reminding myself
\nthat to leave the pandemic behind also means finishing the work of
\nletting go of the pre-pandemic life. \u00a0It means seeing with clarity
\nwhat has changed, and not FIGHTING it anymore. \u00a0It means accepting
\nthis reality as it is, so that God can dream with me and with us HERE
\nAND NOW without my too-tight-grip on the past keeping me from
\nlistening.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And, to be honest to these passages, it
\nalso means making more space for joy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Loosening my grip on what was helps me
\nmake space for joy. \u00a0Even, loosening my grip on what joy USED TO look
\nlike makes space for how it looks now. \u00a0And generally speaking,
\nloosening my grip \u00a0helps with joy \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The thing I’ve noticed about joy, the
\ncontinuity of it, is that for me is about connection. \u00a0I find joy in
\nconnecting with others, in connecting with God, in connecting with
\nnature. \u00a0That is, joy happens in togetherness \u2013 at least for me.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Which is probably why I’ve been so
\nmoved by our stewardship campaign this year, \u201cTogether for joy.\u201d
\nI simply adore the order of the words. \u00a0For me, I know joy comes in
\ntogetherness, but I love the INTENTION in being together FOR joy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is another wonderful take on the
\nPsalm:<\/p>\n

Make a joyful
\nnoise to the Lord, all the earth;
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0break forth
\ninto joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with
\nthe lyre,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0with the lyre and the sound of melody.
\n
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0make
\na joyful noise before the King, the Lord.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The normal take is the wonder of making
\nmusic to praise God, but I love adding to that meaning by seeing each
\nof our lives as a piece of the music and our lives together as
\ncreating that joyful noise! \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In many churches, today is Reformation
\nSunday, the day when they remember the initial act of Martin Luther
\nin nailing the 95 thesis on the church door and starting the
\nReformation. \u00a0We are, curiously enough, a part of Protestantism, but
\ndirect descendants of the Reformation. \u00a0 Lutheran, Presbyterian,
\nReformed, and even most Baptist churches descend from the
\nReformation, but we split off of the Church of England, which itself
\nsplit from the Roman Catholic Church for rather different reasons.
\n(The king wanted a divorce, the pope didn’t grant one, so the king
\nnationalized the church.) \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our roots are not in the reformation,
\nbut our identity is in Protestantism. \u00a0That is, by nature, we PROTEST
\nthe abuses of the church and the world and advocate for God’s people.
\nThanks be to God! \u00a0We are active in the face of injustice, and we are
\nactively seeking God’s kindom (although, to be fair, this is true of
\nmore people than protestants, so we claim this but not exclusively.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We are, together for justice, together
\nfor joy, together for compassion. \u00a0We witness the mountains and the
\nhills breaking forth before us, and the trees of the field clapping
\ntheir hands. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dear ones, God leads us TO joy. \u00a0God
\nleads us to PEACE. \u00a0Not just for ourselves, for all people, but for
\nourselves too. \u00a0We are blessed with the joy of being together, and we
\nare together for joy. \u00a0Thanks be to God! \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1<\/a>Walter
\n\tBrueggemann, Isaiah 40-66, <\/i>Louisville,
\n\tKentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), p 162.<\/p>\n

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

October 30, 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills will break forth … Continue reading \u201cJoy and Protest\u201d based on\u00a0\tPsalm 98:1-6, Isaiah 55:10-13<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,33,1548,1265,174,60,1546,1484,540,56,57,1549,1547,302],"class_list":["post-4503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-umc","tag-exile-as-pandemic-metaphor","tag-first-umc-schenectady","tag-god-is-love","tag-isaiah-and-brueggemann","tag-love-wins","tag-pandemic-preaching","tag-progressive-church","tag-schenectady","tag-sorry-about-the-umc","tag-swoon","tag-thinking-christianity","tag-walter-brueggemann"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}