Who’s Making All That Noise?

Isaiah 52:1-12
It isn’t always easy to perceive the work of God in our midst. God’s grace, God’s love, God’s mercy all take interesting forms and can come at us from surprising directions. But one thing of which we can be sure is that God does remain active transforming lives and restoring creation. This is, after all, the message that lies at the very heart of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, God was – and is – reconciling the world to God’s self. The prophet Isaiah looked forward to a time when the message of God’s salvation would ring loudly and clearly throughout the land. “Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see 
the return of the Lord to Zion” (Isaiah 52:8). To me the most obvious modern version of these particular sentinels is the church, and it seems appropriate that the people of God, called to be the body of Christ at work in the world, should lift their voices with exultation in order to proclaim God’s presence so that all the world may know and rejoice.

The key, I believe, is Isaiah’s call to “sing for joy.” Normally this would be a funny thing for sentinels to do. It brings to mind images of the knights of Camelot performing their wacky dance number in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But true joy has that affect, it causes us to dance and sing and become giddy with delight until others begin to wonder why and perhaps even to join in. The church, then, is a sentinel called to scan the horizon, not in dread of what may be coming, nor in gleeful anticipation of God’s fiery condemnation of “everyone else,” but with expectation and hope, knowing that God comes with power and might – yes – but also with love and justice. And when we see signs of God’s activity, when we glimpse grace unfolding in our midst “in plain sight,” we most certainly should “lift up (our) voices, (and) together sing for joy” in response.

Worshipping with a local congregation, serving in the wider community, offering prayers, reflecting on scripture, accepting others as God’s creatures as we strive to find common cause, giving generously of our time and talents: these are all appropriate ways to “sing for joy,” to make known that the Lord is near and that the kingdom of God has dawned. As the people of God let us rejoice at what the Lord is doing and let the good news be shared.

Prayer: Lord God, give us voices to praise you and the willingness to serve you in all we do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.