Isaiah: Pastor, Poet, and Prophet for the Present Moment

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Isaiah 55:2

Wow, Isaiah, way to cut to the chase here. 

This might be one of the most prophetic lines in all of scripture.  It might be the one that makes us feel the most uncomfortable.  We know today that we are far too busy.  We know that we worship at the altar of "perpetual motion".  We know that so much of our identity is caught up in what we've accomplished, degrees that hang on our walls, awards sit on the shelf saying, "You are someone."

What happens when the calendar is blank and bare?
What happens when our bodies won't let us keep moving at such a frantic, frenzied pace?
What happens when the degrees and awards just collect dust and their shine suddenly doesn't seem so bright?

Ouch.

Isaiah...a little less bright light on the brokenness of our lives.

This could be where the church usually says, "Try hard!"  Or tells us, "You've missed the point."  Which is exactly the exact opposite of what I think Isaiah is getting at here.

Not guilt...grace.

Not do more...come to church....give more....but rather stop.  Cease.  Breathe.  Be.

The Sabbath has always been sacred not because God said so...although She did.  The Sabbath is sacred because for one day we are called to just breathe and be.  My lament about the loss of Blue Law isn't that attendance has dropped in church.  Rather, it is that we have given ourselves permission and even the expectation that we cannot stop!  My lament of the loss of Blue Laws is that we have forgotten how to be bored!

If you want Exhibit A that people cannot stand to be bored - study people standing in line.  They are all staring down at their phones.  No longer does a trip to the store have to be frustrating, because you can multitask and check your email.  No longer do you have to strike up a conversation with the person standing behind you, because you can check into Facebook instead. 

I love what Barbara Brown Taylor says about the Sabbath: "For one day a week be good for nothing."  Not that we are unworthy or worms...rather that we are so beautiful and mysteriously made that we if don't stop.  Breathe.  Be.  We will miss it.

This is one of those posts that challenge me the most.  I love to be busy.  I worship at the altar of perpetual motion.   A full calendar is proof that I am needed, necessary.  But, in these still small moments of letting Isaiah's prophetic words sit on my soul, I wonder why?  Why race and run around?  Why move so fast that my soul can't keep up? 

Those questions don't have easy answers.  Yet, God comes to us in human form, to remind us that there is another way.  So today, breathe and be.  Sit in a chair for as long as you can...then sit for another two minutes.

Laugh at something silly.

Listen for God's laughter in your life.

Breathe.

Be.

And may there be more than a trace of God's grace on this Sabbath Wednesday for you.

Blessings ~~