“Comfort My People”

by Bruce J. Johnson

December 8, 2002

(Isaiah 40: 1-11; Mark 1: 1-8)

From high aloft high-tech Ferris wheel at the amusement park at Ocean City, N.J. you can see for miles--- east and out across the Atlantic or south, down miles of beach or even north to the glitz and glamour of Atlantic City. I was brought back of my last night ride on that Ferris wheel when I was so struck by an extraordinary photograph in Friday’s Hartford Courant. It came from Kandahar, Afghanistan and shows a Ferris wheel fashioned of wood--- for sure no match for the 5 story welded steel and Hollywood lighted wheel of OC but still, each seat filled with kids. And, there was certainly something that touched me in profound way about those kids. There didn’t seem to be much difference between the smiles and laughter and looks of delight! In the photo, girls are wearing new clothes for the celebration marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan--- a month of sacrifice. Thursday was a holiday and marks the beginning of their season of celebration--- ‘Id al Fitr’--- “The feast of Fast Breaking” (no that is a basketball term!) and it is a time to be celebrated with prayers, charity, family gatherings and holiday attire. It is a day of joy and thanksgiving. Perhaps the media ought to broadcast more of these scenes rather than those that portray angry and armed mob scenes in the street. (Interestingly, just yesterday, there was a wonderful and very hopeful article in the New York Times about what is happening in Muslim circles in the United States. Families and communities during this season of Id At Fitr are asking, “painful questions of how terrorism could have ever have sprouted from the soil of Islam.” (p.A18; 12/7/2002) Not a bad question for all religious faiths to ask--- Jews and Christian too! The article ends with a neat final paragraph. Quoting the author of a new book titled: The Place of Tolerance in Islam, Peter Steinfels writes:

“Muslim thinking has remained either pro-West or anti- West instead of focussing on a far more important question: Is Muslim thinking in the modern world pro-human or anti-human?”

Indeed, calendars being what they are, we are all in a time of celebration. Our Jewish brothers and sisters are observing Hanukkah, the festival of lights, which began last Sunday and commemorate the miraculous triumph of light over darkness, courage over cruelty when a limited amount of oil lasted for 8 days during the Maccabean siege. I think Hanukkah yesterday.

And our own season of Advent is also upon us—a time of waiting and watching, a time for staying awake and being attentive…preparing.

Here we have three communities, three faiths--- all observing a holy time, yet the reality of the world so often shows them as being enmeshed in a webbed culture of hatred and violence, retribution and revenge. How sad--- especially at this time of the year!

For this reason, this year the words from the prophet Isaiah come to us with special poignancy.

“Comfort, Comfort, my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her

that her warfare is ended.”

(Isaiah 40: 1-2)

If only tender words can be spoken to Jerusalem, telling her that her warfare is over!

Of course, those original words were spoken to a people in exile, and Jerusalem was but the symbolic name of the people of Israel. After years of exile and service in Babylon, they were promised a pathway back to the Promised Land --- a pathway so sure that it seems the valleys have been lifted up and the mountains leveled. Nothing—no political or military power, nor force of nature—will stand between the people and their homeland.

Perhaps even the prophecy of earlier days was still fresh when these words were spoken:

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

and the calf and the lion and the fatling together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp

And the weaned child shall put his hand in the adder’s den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord…

(Isaiah 11: 6-9)

When the Bible speaks of comfort, it really means a number of things. In the Hebrew, the word for comfort is best translated in English as “to feel compassion and pity” and also includes the idea of repentance and sorrow. The English word comfort, however, comes from the Latin word meaning ‘to strengthen.” In today’s lesson from Isaiah, then, the prophet is urged to tell the people that their time of repentance has come to an end and that they will be comforted, strengthened and borne up by God who puts an end to their sorrow. God’ strength will be used to gather people like a shepherd gathers the flock together, cradling the lambs and carrying them to safety and rest.

What a message of promise and hope!

Twenty-five centuries later, though, ‘Jerusalem’ is now known as a city in the country of Israel more than the ‘people of Israel,’ a holy city, and claimed as such by three faiths, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. So what is the message from antiquity for today’s world?

In her truly remarkable book Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, Karen Armstrong makes a number of thought provoking comments:

1. “In Jerusalem, more than in any other place I have visited,

history is a dimension of the present.” (And course, we all know that that history not only includes promise and fulfillment but violence and hatred and suffering.)

2. “Throughout this book, we have seen that Jerusalem and its shrines (for each faith) have not only been powerful symbols of the divine but have also provided worshippers with an encounter with their deepest selves.” (p. 429)

In this holy season of Advent, let me suggest to you that we all be exiles returning to Jerusalem--- who are called to journey there to encounter and confront our deepest selves, knowing that God will comfort us, that is, will strengthen us and uphold us and redeem us.

Yahuda Amichai, one of Israel’s leading poets and who was born in Germany and emigrated to Palestine in 1936, has had his poetry translated into 37 languages including Chinese, Estonian and Albanian. He wrote a number of poems about Jerusalem and one reads in the following way:

“Tourists, Part 2”

“Once I was sitting on the steps near the gate at David’s Citadel

and I put down my two heavy baskets beside me. A group of

tourists stood there around their guide, and I become their point

of reference. ‘You see the man over there with the baskets? A

little to the right of his head there’s an arch from the Roman

period. A little to the right of his head.” “But he’s moving.

He’s moving!” I said to myself: Redemption will come only when

they are told, ‘Do you see that arch over there from the Roman

period? It doesn’t matter, but near it, a little to the left and

then down a bit, there’s a man who has just bought fruit and

vegetables for his family.”

Redemption does come when we can see the person--- no matter what his/her faith. Among the many fascinating aspects of John the Baptizer’s presence in our New Testament lesson for this morning --- his dress and diet not withstanding—is that he chooses the wilderness as the place where the messenger had to get his message out! (I got a chuckle yesterday from an article about the senatorial seat in Louisiana. The Republicans sent their “72 Hour Task Force” down there to help their candidate. This is what was said:

“The party’s ‘72- Hour Task Force’ plan which started months ago relies largely on identifying issues that matter to voters, adapting messages and messengers, and in the final 72 hours staying in touch and getting them to the polls.”)

Something like that must have happened with John the Baptist---because all of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to see and hear him and be baptized! He knew something and that something had to do with their needs. Barbara Brown Taylor describes it this way:

“… he knew that a new world was spinning toward him, carried in the arms of God’s chosen one. It was a world that would be built out of new materials, not the rearranged stones of the old religion. The Holy Spirit had gotten all but covered up in Jerusalem, with pretend piety and temple taxes and priestly hocus-pocus. The flame was all but snuffed out under the weight of all the foppery, so God moved it out into the wilderness, where the air was sharp and clean, out under the stars where it was fanned by the most socially unacceptable character anyone could imagine…. And his message--- there was someone coming that is greater than he but the life to which he was calling them was greater too! It was time to get ready, to prepare the way, so that when he came, he could walk right into their doors.”

(BBT—“Home by another Way”

And, of course, that life was the life of loving one another.

From two different sources I received the following story this week--- the story of little a girl in Nicholas’s kindergarten class who had a part in the ‘Winter Pageant’ as they are now called. The school system, wanting to provide an opportunity for as many parents to see the pageant opened up the dress rehearsal for public viewing.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, each class, one by one, rose to perform their song. Nothing was expected along the lines of a Christmas theme but rather songs of reindeer and Santa, snowflakes and good cheer. Much to the amazement of many, however, when little Nicholas’ class rose to sing--- their song was titled “Christmas Love.” Nicholas was aglow as were all the children, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters and bright snowcaps on their heads. Those in the front row—center stage held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.

As the class would sing ‘C’ is for Christmas, a child would hold up the letter ‘C.’ Then ‘H’ is for happy. And on and on The performance was going smoothly until suddenly, it was noticed… a small, quiet girl in the front row holding the letter “M” upside down--- totally unaware that her letter “M” appeared as a “W.”

A wave of snickering spread across the audience but she had no idea that they were laughing at her--- so she stood tall holding up her “W. Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised. A hush descended upon the crowd and eyes began to widen…. For when the last letter was raised--- the message was clear and plain:

“CHRISTWAS LOVE.” AND HE STILL IS!

AND WE ARE CALLED TO LIVE EXPRESSING THAT LOVE FOR ALL--- SO LET US SPEAK TENDERLY TO JERUSALEM AND LIFT UP THE MESSAGE OF HOPE AND PROMISE THAT RISING FROM THE SHOWING AND SHARING OF GOD’S LOVE. REDEMPTION COMES WHEN WE DO THAT! AMEN