For I am about... to do a New Thing
I am not a trauma expert, nor would I claim to be; but I have experienced my share of trauma and I have born witness to a fair share of others trauma. What I do know about trauma is that in words of a best-selling book, The Body Keeps the Score, that the body does indeed keep the score. We don’t just forget when bad things happen to us or we bear witness to bad things. We absorb those things and over time, those things have an affect on us. We know that chronic stress and trauma lead to an increase of adrenaline in our bodies which can age us and cause many physical and mental ailments.
Trauma can be experienced in many forms. Loss, grief, accidents, abuse, neglect, war, can all leave their imprint on us. An event or series of events is thought to be traumatic when it causes a lot of stress over a period of time. Usually accompanied by a sense of horror or helplessness. The people in Ukraine right now are experiencing trauma. The children are being affected; people are being displaced, their country is being destroyed.
Some are migrating to various places and immigration, and being in a land that is not your own, is traumatic — the wounds may never heal for many. It is something they will carry with them.
Our text today from Isaiah is not exactly what we would call apocalyptic literature (literature focusing on the end times), but it hints of it. Most scholars see Isaiah chapters 56-66 as reflecting the struggles of the remnant who remained in Jerusalem and Judah with the leadership who returned from the Babylonian exile. You may not remember the history - the nation of Israel had been taken captive to Babylon, but some stragglers remained and some were able to return in waves at different points.
The text here is quoting a speech from God to Israel, as the remnant community is trying to deal with the conflict with the leaders who had returned - they are trying to put the conflict and trauma of the Babylonian captivity, (and being left behind), behind them.
So God encourages them - “I am about to do a new thing! I am about to create new heavens and a new earth.”
The power of this promise comes in the second half of verse 17: “the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.” This is a powerful promise to anyone who has experienced trauma. So many of us walk around so broken, so torn, so caught up on the past and the trauma that to some they have an inability to move forward. They can’t seem to break the ties that bind them to the past.
God’s speech to Israel that we find in these chapters of Isaiah, speak to much of the trauma that Israel suffered while living under the oppression of foreign conquerors. Their children died of malnutrition on account of injustices under foreign rule (65:20) Their labor was exploited to build the homes of their oppressors. They lived in a land without empathy toward themselves or others.
I am frightened at times that we are becoming a land without empathy. Two weeks ago Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in his own home and the ridicule that was heaped upon this man’s head after the attack astounded me. It is not okay to make fun of or joke about this brutality, no matter how you feel about his wife’s politics. That some of our political leaders did so is not okay. May we never be characterized as a land without empathy for others.
The prophet here in Isaiah, is imagining what a land with empathy would look like and what we have to look forward to. He promises that after the trauma, there is healing.
Which is a good balance because the Gospel text lends us little reprieve.
Luke is narrating Jesus’ description of the end of days, complete with earthquakes, famines, wars, plagues, and persecution of the faithful. This is the kind of apocalyptic language that made the Left Behind series famous in some Christian communities—there is money to be made in selling fear.
In this text, the disciples with others and Jesus are standing in the temple and Jesus tells them that this grandeur that they see in the temple, that one day it would be no more. He speaks of nations and earthquakes and dreadful things and then he speaks of persecution. It is going to get bad Jesus is saying.
In a few weeks we will be moving from the Gospel of Luke to the Gospel of Matthew, and turn the liturgical calendar year from Year C to Year A. Many of us preachers will be breathing a sigh of relief as we are ready for some reprieve of Luke’s apocalyptic imagery. But, Advent is going to arrive with its apocalyptic punch. So… we best just sit back and move in to it.
Apocalyptic, end time literature, is a literature that speaks of horrific, frightening things happening at the end, and Isaiah comes in speaking words of hope about what comes after that.
“…I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight…no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress.” (Isaiah 65:18ff)
The wolf and lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Before this great time depicted in Isaiah, that which of spoken of in Luke happens. We hold both of them together. Things are going to get worse before they get better. But just because things are going to get worse, does not mean that we live into it. Jesus didn’t let us off the hook so that we sit around like Eeyore - expecting the worse. He gave us a command and some hope.
Jesus tells his disciples in Luke that, “not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain souls.”
We are promised, as I spoke of last week, a resurrection. Though our earthly bodies will fade and die, “not a hair of our head will perish” eternally. Our endurance, our faithfulness here on earth, our lives that should bear witness to Christ and what He has done for us, will gain souls.
Hell may very well break loose in the world around us. Our nation may be on the brink of some uncertain times. We may want to pull the covers over our heads or lay low and hope nobody notices us. But Jesus calls us to do just the opposite: Endure.
Jesus speaks of wars and insurrections, nation rising against nation, earthquakes, famine and plagues - But before all of this he warns his followers, they will arrest and persecute you. They will hand you over.
\
But in the midst of this he assures his followers that “I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict… “.. you will be hated…”
But you are commanded to speak.
Speak. Tell the truth. Proclaim Christ crucified and risen!
Amidst all the apocalyptic language we hear in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching us something essential about what it means to be his followers. When things get hard; when people point their pitchforks at you; when people try to silence and malign and ridicule you, keep on speaking!
This is the essential vocation of the Church. Stand tall. Endure. In the middle of chaos, and confusion of the world, keep proclaiming who we are and what we are about. Over and over and over again.
God is faithful even when everything around us is falling apart. And hard times may come. But we are children of the resurrection and their are better times coming.
And in the words of Isaiah, “The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind (Isaiah 65:17)”
Amen.
Trauma can be experienced in many forms. Loss, grief, accidents, abuse, neglect, war, can all leave their imprint on us. An event or series of events is thought to be traumatic when it causes a lot of stress over a period of time. Usually accompanied by a sense of horror or helplessness. The people in Ukraine right now are experiencing trauma. The children are being affected; people are being displaced, their country is being destroyed.
Some are migrating to various places and immigration, and being in a land that is not your own, is traumatic — the wounds may never heal for many. It is something they will carry with them.
Our text today from Isaiah is not exactly what we would call apocalyptic literature (literature focusing on the end times), but it hints of it. Most scholars see Isaiah chapters 56-66 as reflecting the struggles of the remnant who remained in Jerusalem and Judah with the leadership who returned from the Babylonian exile. You may not remember the history - the nation of Israel had been taken captive to Babylon, but some stragglers remained and some were able to return in waves at different points.
The text here is quoting a speech from God to Israel, as the remnant community is trying to deal with the conflict with the leaders who had returned - they are trying to put the conflict and trauma of the Babylonian captivity, (and being left behind), behind them.
So God encourages them - “I am about to do a new thing! I am about to create new heavens and a new earth.”
The power of this promise comes in the second half of verse 17: “the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.” This is a powerful promise to anyone who has experienced trauma. So many of us walk around so broken, so torn, so caught up on the past and the trauma that to some they have an inability to move forward. They can’t seem to break the ties that bind them to the past.
God’s speech to Israel that we find in these chapters of Isaiah, speak to much of the trauma that Israel suffered while living under the oppression of foreign conquerors. Their children died of malnutrition on account of injustices under foreign rule (65:20) Their labor was exploited to build the homes of their oppressors. They lived in a land without empathy toward themselves or others.
I am frightened at times that we are becoming a land without empathy. Two weeks ago Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in his own home and the ridicule that was heaped upon this man’s head after the attack astounded me. It is not okay to make fun of or joke about this brutality, no matter how you feel about his wife’s politics. That some of our political leaders did so is not okay. May we never be characterized as a land without empathy for others.
The prophet here in Isaiah, is imagining what a land with empathy would look like and what we have to look forward to. He promises that after the trauma, there is healing.
Which is a good balance because the Gospel text lends us little reprieve.
Luke is narrating Jesus’ description of the end of days, complete with earthquakes, famines, wars, plagues, and persecution of the faithful. This is the kind of apocalyptic language that made the Left Behind series famous in some Christian communities—there is money to be made in selling fear.
In this text, the disciples with others and Jesus are standing in the temple and Jesus tells them that this grandeur that they see in the temple, that one day it would be no more. He speaks of nations and earthquakes and dreadful things and then he speaks of persecution. It is going to get bad Jesus is saying.
In a few weeks we will be moving from the Gospel of Luke to the Gospel of Matthew, and turn the liturgical calendar year from Year C to Year A. Many of us preachers will be breathing a sigh of relief as we are ready for some reprieve of Luke’s apocalyptic imagery. But, Advent is going to arrive with its apocalyptic punch. So… we best just sit back and move in to it.
Apocalyptic, end time literature, is a literature that speaks of horrific, frightening things happening at the end, and Isaiah comes in speaking words of hope about what comes after that.
“…I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight…no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress.” (Isaiah 65:18ff)
The wolf and lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Before this great time depicted in Isaiah, that which of spoken of in Luke happens. We hold both of them together. Things are going to get worse before they get better. But just because things are going to get worse, does not mean that we live into it. Jesus didn’t let us off the hook so that we sit around like Eeyore - expecting the worse. He gave us a command and some hope.
Jesus tells his disciples in Luke that, “not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain souls.”
We are promised, as I spoke of last week, a resurrection. Though our earthly bodies will fade and die, “not a hair of our head will perish” eternally. Our endurance, our faithfulness here on earth, our lives that should bear witness to Christ and what He has done for us, will gain souls.
Hell may very well break loose in the world around us. Our nation may be on the brink of some uncertain times. We may want to pull the covers over our heads or lay low and hope nobody notices us. But Jesus calls us to do just the opposite: Endure.
Jesus speaks of wars and insurrections, nation rising against nation, earthquakes, famine and plagues - But before all of this he warns his followers, they will arrest and persecute you. They will hand you over.
\
But in the midst of this he assures his followers that “I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict… “.. you will be hated…”
But you are commanded to speak.
Speak. Tell the truth. Proclaim Christ crucified and risen!
Amidst all the apocalyptic language we hear in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching us something essential about what it means to be his followers. When things get hard; when people point their pitchforks at you; when people try to silence and malign and ridicule you, keep on speaking!
This is the essential vocation of the Church. Stand tall. Endure. In the middle of chaos, and confusion of the world, keep proclaiming who we are and what we are about. Over and over and over again.
God is faithful even when everything around us is falling apart. And hard times may come. But we are children of the resurrection and their are better times coming.
And in the words of Isaiah, “The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind (Isaiah 65:17)”
Amen.