Justice in the Earth
Heather Weir Download: Audio
Scripture: Isaiah 42 (NRSV)
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
There’s something about music. It has a power. It embraces the whole person, relegated not simply to the mind or the heart or the body, but somehow living in all three at once. Great music is visceral, but not without appeal to the intellect. There’s a mathematical logic to music that may or may not register to the conscious mind, but that is present nonetheless. Music simultaneously expresses unique cultures and crosses cultural barriers. Music speaks when there are no words and adds layers of meaning when there are. It truly is, in the words of the nineteenth century poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “the universal language of humankind.”
It makes sense to me that in the poetry of the Bible, creation sings. Consider, for example, Isaiah 55:12, which reads,
For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Similarly, in Psalm 96:11 – 13 we read,
Let the heavens be glad, and the let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it
let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord.
Perhaps music isn’t just the universal language of humankind, but is instead, simply, the universal language.
In Isaiah 42, which is our focus this coming Sunday, having just declared that God is about to do a new thing, the prophet cries out, “Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.” It’s as if Isaiah is so overcome by the glory of God and His new thing that he can’t contain himself. I imagine him much like King David, some 300+ years prior, when he returned the ark of God (which symbolized God’s presence with His people) to Jerusalem after it had been missing for seventy years. We’re told in 2 Samuel 6 that “David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.” They could not contain their joy and their excitement; it poured out of them as music and dancing.
When was the last time you were that excited about something God was doing?
Once I visited Wales with a friend. We spent a day hiking a portion of the coast. I cannot remember exactly where we were. What I do remember is that the path sat high atop a cliff at the edge of the sea. It followed the natural ins and outs of the coves below, and with every corner we rounded, the view seemed more spectacular than the last. Without realizing it, part way along I discovered that I was almost running to each new cove. I remember feeling like God was laughing, creating as I went, enjoying my enjoyment of His handiwork. If I were a singer, I would have been singing. Indeed, my heart and my soul were doing exactly that.
Was that the last time I was excited about something God was doing? I hope not. I don’t think it was. But I wonder…
When you imagine the kingdom of God, does it excite you? When you are reminded of God’s greatness, faithfulness, creativity, and love, does it make you want to sing? Perhaps, as you prepare for Sunday, you might read Isaiah 42, particularly verses 1 -9. Read it slowly. Read it out loud. Can you see the picture the prophet is painting? How does that picture translate into your life and your world? What new thing might God be up to in our time that would be so incredible to witness that we and all creation would burst into song?