God's Preferences

 Isaiah 35:4-7a

Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. 

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

When we see wars and Covid and hurricanes and wildfires and along with all of that, so much pointless, unnecessary pain and death, it’s easy to read this bit from Isaiah and focus only on the fear, the blindness, the broken bodies and the burning landscapes.  In doing that we can easily forget that is not God’s preference for creation.   

But God’s preference is NOT that people be afraid.  God’s preference is NOT for wilderness and dry land, whether that’s literal as it was for the people of Israel, or a figurative wilderness of hope in a pandemic, a desert of food and shelter, or the burning of injustice.  God’s preference is NOT that fear, scarcity, anxiety, worry, and dread be how we live these lives we’ve been given.    

God also has a preference for our wellbeing and that is for wholeness in body, mind, and spirit.  God’s preference is for us to leap like deer, have unstopped ears, be able to express ourselves freely… to be able to sing!  And not only to  sing the blues, but to sing for joy as well!  

God’s preference for us is that we NOT struggle with the burning sands of life either.  Those deserts of endless, irritating sand that grind away in our human gears… never quite grinding us to a stop but never letting our mental or physical or spiritual well being run completely smoothly either.  God’s preference is for justice to flow like cool streams washing away that sand.  God’s preference is for pools of still waters… refreshing us, healing us, giving us peace.  

God’s preference is also NOT for people to go without really living in this life… just “getting-by” isn’t it!  God’s preference is for abundant life… not excessive life, but an abundant, eternal life NOW.  NOT just suffering through this life with only the promise of “eternal life” in the sweet by and by!  That’s not Good News!

“But Father O’Karas” you say, “this preference of God’s can’t be for everyone can it?  Surely Not for THOSE people!” And to that I’d say, it not only CAN be for everyone… it IS for everyone, and don’t call me Shirley!  From the daughters of Syrophoenician Gentile women clear over to grown up Jewish men.  And that, my friends, is literally everyone!  

Now you may have noticed that the world does not currently seem to be operating fully according to God’s preferences and THAT, I would say, is excellent noticing!  It most certainly is not!  But if God is God and the world isn’t working as God prefers, God will certainly get God’s way, right?  Absolutely!  But how… and when?  The “how”, both in Isaiah and in the Gospels, happens with the presence of the Divine.  In Isaiah, it happens when “God comes… when God is here”!  In the Gospels it happens in the presence of Jesus, no matter where he goes or who is around him.  In every case it is the presence of the Divine that changes the world from what it is, into what God prefers it to be.  The “when” part is harder.  The “when” is like a train pulling into the station.  God, the engine, is here but the world in tow has not yet come to a full and complete stop so all of creation has clearly not yet gotten  onboard.  

So if it’s God’s presence that creates God’s preferences for creation and not our work, what is our part in all this?  I think our part in all this is first to constantly remind one another of of God’s preferences for creation.  The desert, wilderness, the jackals, the sand, and the world as it currently is, is very loud, and that noise makes those promises hard to remember.  So we need to hear God’s preferences over and over so they aren’t forever drown out by all that noise.  And I think we’re called to do THIS… to come together… physically when it’s possible… because when we are together we ARE the Body of Christ… and somehow, mystically, our presence as the Body of Christ can and does change the world. 

Now I know, and the Apostle Paul knew, and Jesus knew and I’m certain God knows, that while we are fully the Body of Christ, we are also fully human and we will certainly fall short of the glory of God in what we do.  And yet, the Holy Spirit keeps calling us to remind each other of God’s preferences and to do all we can for our neighbors and the world.  And as we do that, the angels will be rooting for us, shouting, “Be strong!  Do not fear!” and reminding us always that our God will come, our God’s will, will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.