Isaiah 35
The Lord’s ransomed ones will return and enter Zion with singing,
with everlasting joy upon their heads.
Happiness and joy will overwhelm them;
grief and groaning will flee away.
These words of hope from Isaiah finished my daily Bible reading on Sunday, August 4th. It was the same day that we woke to hear the news of the second mass shooting in less than 24 hours, leaving at least 31 killed, and many others wounded. Those words hit hard in the context of the news. How dare we hear these words in the face of the grief and pain now being felt by so many. The words from Jeremiah: “Rachel refused to be consoled because her children were no more,” seemed far more appropriate in the moment.
But then I got to thinking, and praying, and praying some more. Maybe these are just the words we need to remind us that the pain and death and anger that seems overwhelming do not have the final word. That the time will come when Rachel’s cries will become overwhelming happiness and joy.
We are obviously not at that place, but the words from Isaiah remind us that what we are experiencing in these days of pain and grief are not the final word. They are also calls to action for us. When we received the news that my youngest brother had been at his workplace on 9/11, in the direct path of the first plane that hit the World Trade Towers, my first thoughts were to that text from Jeremiah. But, as I began to hear the chants of war getting louder, and the calls for retaliation against Muslims it became clear to me that something different was needed. That something different began my participation in a 9/11 family group called September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows which protested the war on Afghanistan that began on what would have been my youngest brother’s birthday.
As the names of the victims of violence are read at vigils and on the news, I know how hauntingly painful it is for their families, as I hear my brother’s name read every year on September 11th. That reality challenges me to ask: what we are called to do to counter the words of hate that stir up violence, what are we called to do to challenge our government to enact sensible gun laws, how are we called to be a presence of love to those who are hurting in these anxious days.
In our laments, the text from Jeremiah needs to be lifted up. But I lift it up in the context of those beautiful words from Isaiah as a reminder and a challenge. A reminder that God will have the last word. A challenge in that we are called as the people of God to work towards bringing that time of overflowing joy into being. How will you turn lament into hope?
UMCRB: The Shoreline 