Do We See Ourselves?

Click here to read Isaiah 19

So we know Egypt and Israel have a history that is...let's just say is complicated.  I mean there is the whole indentured servitude in the book of Exodus.  Where Moses has to come in and lead the people across the Red Sea and into wandering in the wilderness for forty years.  During which people complained and wanted to go back to Egypt...you know where they were in servitude.  There is more that needs to be said about that some time when dwelling in the book of Exodus.

But Isaiah offers a prophecy against Egypt.  What really gets me about this chapter is verse 2, where brother rises against brother, neighbor against neighbor, and city against city.  I hear those words and make a connection to today in our world.  In our contentious political environment, family member is against family member, neighbor against neighbor, and a red state sits next to a blue state.  We feel that division and divisiveness in ways that seems to eat away at our very soul as a country.

So, what to do?  Let's face it, there is not much positive advice to be found in this chapter of Isaiah.  Basically he says to Egypt, "You are doomed!"  Which I can understand, it is often the way I feel after watching the news.  So, where is the hope?  Hope may not come in books we can buy or missions we create or really anything we do.  When we light the candle of "Hope" on the first Sunday of Advent, it can feel the same way.  One candle against the increasing darkness and dwindling daylight, what is the point?  What sense does that make?  We light the candle, call it "hope," and then wait.  Wait four weeks before we gather at a manger to welcome God incarnate in Jesus. That does take hope, to wait.  It can feel like we are waiting today to see if we can stop letting the differences divide and start seeing who we are connected.  Will it happen or we will end up like say the Egyptians in our passage today.

There is no neat and tidy ending here.  Hope does not come in prepacked ways.  Hope bubbles up in unexpected, even serendipitous ways.  Which if that sounds familiar, it is because it is similar to what I said about discipleship.  Maybe there is a connection between discipleship and hope that starts there and here.

May the traces of God's grace help to keep the spark of hope alive in your life today.

Blessings and peace!