Prophets

I live my life in amazement that we have life at all, and that our experience of life is endlessly rich and complex.  That we have opportunities for growth, and have the support of a nurturing God.

At the same time, I often find life overwhelming.  Full of fear, dread, shame or guilt.  And with lots of confusion.

This reading from Isaiah touches on both the majesty of the universe and the struggles of our lives.

It speaks of the wonders of creation.  God created the heavens and stretched them out, and spread out the earth and what comes from it, and gives breath and spirit to the people.

Like John’s passage last month, this is a kind of creation story.  Creation stories, from any culture, give me a feeling of wholeness and purpose.  I can feel my place in the universe.

I’ve also learned about evolution – another kind of creation story.  Charles Darwin’s writing gave me a similar sense of awe.  How millions of generations of organisms, combined with billions of interactions between individuals, became an unstoppable generator of new life.  Utterly mind boggling.

Different stories, all imbued with a kind of force or destiny.

Creation stories tend to give me hope in an abstract sense, but they don’t seem to help with the reality of my day-to-day life.

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While God is the driver of all creation, he doesn’t say it will be easy.  From what I have learned in my years, we need to experience new situations and gradually discover, bit by bit, new ways of thinking.  It’s a long, convoluted process.  And we need to do it again and again.  But we have the help of prophets - who act as midwives to spiritual creation.  They’re the ones who are farther along the road to enlightenment.  They’ve had these experiences, and they give us valuable guidance.

When I think of prophets, I think of Isaiah, Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammed.  I also think of people around us who help us in so many ways.  A kind word.  A heartfelt cautionary tale.  Moral support.  A sharing of true emotion.  These seem to be ingredients of creation.  We all need help and we can all offer help.

Isaiah calls his prophet the “servant”.  He is patient, quiet, persistent, and brave.  He is given the task of bringing light, justice, vision and freedom to humanity.  He does not judge us or demand obedience.  He sounds like a person who can be an effective partner in anyone’s spiritual creation.

Life is an incredible miracle.  And life is full of painful and challenging experiences.  These challenges are part of the process of spiritual growth.  When times are tough, we need the foundation of an ever-loving God.  We also need enlightened leaders, and we need each other.

The final verse says, “The former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare”.

This tells me that new things are always on God’s agenda.  God is still creating.  What the future brings we cannot know.  Each of us, in concert with prophets near and far, is an active participant in God’s creation.