Isaiah 41:1-11

Before I headed off to seminary and the ordained ministry, I thought that I would have career as a junior high geography teacher. I amazed my students by being able to identify the states simply from seeing their shape aside from a map. I knew all their capitals and other facts. I could also tell them all about far away places like Peru and India. I will save the story of how I went from being a geography teacher to a minister for another time.
I bring that up this week because I was struck by a thought as I read this passage from Isaiah. God is creating a new geography here for his people who have been in exile. God is raising valleys and lowering mountains. This newly smoothed path will lead them back to Jerusalem – the heart and center of their faith.
Imagine the sense of peace that would have come over those who first heard these words. They are tired after years of war and being refugees. They have been in a foreign country for years unable to practice their faith. Now they hear these words that come as a peaceful balm on their ears. The image of a loving shepherd is repeated again and again in scripture for there is no better way to understand this gift of God’s presence and care. Nothing could be more soothing than being held safely by the shepherd at the end of a difficult day.
But after the other harsh words of judgment that Isaiah offers earlier these words bring a great sense of peace. Where have you experienced God’s peace in your life or in your relationships? Where have you been surprised by a peaceful gesture in your life?
What a great metaphor after years of trudging up and down mountains to know that God will make the way straight and flat! What a great sense of peace to know that no matter what God’s peace abounds!

Mark 13:24-37

What would I do if I knew I had only a short time left to live? What would be on my “bucket list?” I would want to do some traveling. I would want to spend as much time with my family as possible. As I write those things, I am struck by the fact that my first thoughts are about me and making me feel good. Is that the kind of watchfulness that the gospel writer Mark is inviting us to? I wonder.
The young boy dying of leukemia in Seattle whose dying wish to help the hungry led to a very successful drive for food donations inspired me. Surround by his family he appealed to the entire region to remember those who are hungry. He didn’t get hung up on the politics of homelessness or the legality of the tent city. He just saw people in need. That is a vision of faithfulness that would bring an “amen” from an Old Testament prophet.
Perhaps as we begin our journey to Bethlehem we would do well think about our “bucket list.” We do not know the day or the hour. Each day should be lived as though it is our last.