RCL Readings Sunday 14 November 2010
Isaiah 65:17-25
Isaiah 12:1-6
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19

For me, like last week, I have to work and live with these readings in the context of Armistice Day (11 Nov) and Remembrance Sunday (14 Nov). Our readings contain that tension between a glorious vision and the harsh realities and as such can provoke us into pray and action that are marked by hope and vision on the one hand and the difficult realities of parts of our world today on the other hand.

There is a marked contrast between the two readings from Isaiah (65:17-25 & 12:1-6) and the two New Testament readings (2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 & Luke 21:5-19). Isaiah 12:1-6 is in place of a Psalm and it reads very much like a psalm. Use this reading to prompt prayers of adoration and as a reminder of the source of your salvation, trust and strength – you might like to begin each time of prayer with a slow reading of these verses. Verse 3 reads: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” – consider what it means to be refreshed in your faith, what and where are the opportunities to “draw water from the wells of salvation”? Use them and delight in them!

The reading from Isaiah 65 is a vision of God’s glorious new creation and must have seemed hard to believe to both those who had returned to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon and those who remained in Babylon. Although nearly 50 years had passed since the first folk had returned Jerusalem was still in a sorry state and the new Temple shabby in comparison to the splendour of Solomon’s Temple and the city walls were still to be rebuilt. The “new heaven and new earth”, the “new Jerusalem” transcends the physical world of bricks and mortar, they are about a new way of living and being, a new vision of humanity and creation in harmony. Read these verses in Isaiah 65 and prayerfully sense the vision – in the midst of our world as it is today we need a vision of a different kind.

The reality though is far from the vision, like the physical Temple the reality is shabby and the city walls are in ruins. How do we prevent reality destroying the vision? The opening two verses of chapter 66 provide the answer, concluding “But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who tremble at my word”. Humility before God – back to Isaiah 12 and the realisation of the source of salvation etc. Contrite spirit – confession of our neglect of “drawing from the wells of salvation” and our over dependence upon ourselves. The taking of God’s word, God’s ways, with utmost seriousness.

The Thessalonians reading is a complex one. Superficially it is easy to get the wrong end of the stick. Note the words are addressed only to “believers”. The English word idle or lazy does not capture the Greek – one significant commentator writes “the word primarily describes behaviour that is insubordinate or irresponsible; perhaps these are individuals who rebel against the community (of faith) itself, chafing at the constraints imposed by the needs and wishes of others”. In our prayer for one another let us seek the wellbeing of the community of faith in all its diversity and in our actions let us seek to affirm one another.

The Gospel (Luke 21:5-19) too is a complex reading. A world in melt down graphically portrayed in apocalyptic language. When? We do not know (v.8). How? Again we do not know – the language is graphic to convey its cataclysmic nature (v.9-11). Where is our strength? Read again Isaiah 12 for a reminder of the nature and source of salvation – God alone. Finally “endurance” (v.19) is called for – hold on to the faith, hold onto God. Pray for those who today find their world in melt down – nations, communities, individuals and those known to you, but also keep in mind the vision of Isaiah 65 and work and pray for that too.