Proclaim! - Is 62: 1-5

       When given the choice between needing to be vindicated, or saved from a difficult situation, or having things go smoothly, what would you choose? Many of us would probably choose to have things go well, not to be in the midst of difficult circumstances, not need to be saved. The Israelites understand the frustration of trying circumstances. They have been taken into captivity, lived enslaved there for many years, and now they have been freed. Finally the broken nation can start to hope again. Finally, they can feel like things are starting to look up and go well. Only it doesn’t last very long. They are now on their way to fulfill the daunting task that God has given them - to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple. To make matters worse, they are facing conflict amongst themselves, between those who were taken into captivity and are returning to Jerusalem, and those who stayed in Jerusalem the entire time. The people are starting to feel just as hopeless as they were enslaved. 

Enter the prophet who could feel the despair and wavering patience of his people. The prophet starts to shout to God to vindicate Zion once again. To look with favor upon the mess that is Jerusalem. To bring salvation. This is not the first time the people have looked to the prophet to proclaim their need to God. To proclaim their discontent. In fact, they may just be sick of the prophet needing to proclaim into the midst of their seemingly unchanging circumstances - just when things start to go well they plummet again. But the prophet knows that he must stand between a defeated people and the God that can restore their faith and hope. 

The prophet knows better then to tell people that if they just hang on that things will be better. He knows that this is neither the time nor the place to offer trite platitudes to boost morale. Instead, he turns his attention to God and cries out for vindication. Cries out for salvation to truly come. He goes as far to demand that God intercedes in the situation. 

Brothers and sisters, how many times have we been in a situation like the Israelites? A time when we do not want someone to tell us that all will be well or that God has a purpose in what we are going through. How many times did we simply want someone to say that they knew what we were going through? The Bible is not only a book that offers good news in salvation, but a book that offers good news that others have went through what we were facing. Others understand our seeming hopelessness at times. The Bible allows us to sigh in relief and say, “someone truly understands.”

That is a message that needs to be just as clearly proclaimed as that of salvation. That even people from way back when the Bible was composed understand how we feel. Understand when we feel like God has abandoned us once again or that we don’t know up from down. Understand our broken dreams and shattered hopes. Because if we don’t acknowledge that times are tough, then we are simply continuing the illusion that all is well for Christians all the time, and people will not be able to hear another thing that we have to say, because we cannot identify with how they feel or meet them where they are at.

Do we believe that God offers hope in all circumstances? Certainly! Do we believe that God can redeem even our most difficult struggle? Yes, indeed! But if we don’t acknowledge the pain in hopelessness and bring our brokeness before God and instead jump straight to trying to make people see the bright side of what they are going through, we will push them away and our message will seem disingenuous. Sometimes we need to be the ones crying out to God in order to help others lament in order to teach others that it is okay to bring our brokeness to God. Sometimes we need to be the ones who simply sit with another person in their hurt instead of trying to make everything better right away. 

This past week in our 40 Days of Love Bible study, the accompanying video made a bold statement that we do not like to face others pain because it reminds us of our own brokeness. While the presenter was making this point in relationship to why we avoid being around people who are hurting, I would say that it is just as true when looked at through the lens of why we are so quick to try to make people feel better. We don’t want to face their brokeness. We would rather everyone be happy so we can pretend to be happy as well.

But this passage in Isaiah today tells us that we have the power to pray to God and say that things are not as they should be. That we can bring our unhappiness and brokeness to God and that nothing is outside the limits of our honest conversation with the one who created us. For it is only after we bring our truthful selves to the Lord, brokeness and all, that we can begin to heal and hear the good news. For after we present ourselves to the Lord a new name is proclaimed over us. Now a new name does not necessarily mean a change in our circumstances. Or that everything magically becomes fixed. Instead a new name means that we see ourselves in a new way, see our circumstances in a new light. We will see that God is not causing us harm, but is weeping over us. That we are not forsaken but delighted over. For our Christian hope comes not from the fact that everything goes well in our lives, but rather that we are the beloved of God instead of sinners. It is a change in our relationship to God, not our external circumstances. 

We are exiting a year that seemed to be filled with a lot of disappointments and heartaches on so many levels - personal, national, international. With Christmas and the New Year came hope that things would get better but for far too many as the new year settles in it is starting to look just as bleak again. What message do we proclaim into peoples darkness? Do we tell them that it is okay to bring their brokeness to God or do we simply smile and try to make them feel better in order to no longer face their pain? Do allow people to acknowledge their sorrow so they can eventually find the hope of a new name, a new relationship with God? For we do people a grave injustice if we do not let them present themselves and what they are feeling before God. 

We are surrounded by people who feel like the Israelite. You feel like they have no place to go. Who see their lives in ruins with broken hearts. Who don’t feel like they have any control in their lives and don’t know where to turn. The church across the street from my parents house had an interesting proclamation on their sign this week that speaks directly to those with shattered faith - it read “We bring the broken hearts to God, but God wants all the pieces.” Brothers and sisters, my hope and prayer is that we can be the people who proclaim a similar message. That God does not just want the good moments in our lives, God wants them all. That God walks with us through all of our moments - including the difficult trials where we fear God is absent. And that when we bring our true broken selves before God we are given the gift of a new name, an identity of belovedness. May we proclaim with our attitude and actions that God rejoices over us even when we are in the midst of despair. I hope that we bring the message that God delights over us by sitting with others when they feel abandoned. May we proclaim that God is with us in the midst of the difficulties, vindicating us often in unknown ways, in God’s perfect timing. May we go forth and proclaim, like the prophet, in the name of the Lord. Amen.