The Desert Shall Bloom

The question immediately pops up: Is Isaiah talking about an actual desert, or is this poetic language to talk about people whose hope and trust in God is as dry and barren as a desert?

The answer is ...Yes..Both!

Whether in nature in general or within the people of Israel, Isaiah wants everyone to know that the way things have been is not the way that they will always be.

Where there has been dried-up hope, God will make a new creation and it will be no mirage, he insists.

The prophet is talking about a complete change of the old ways; he is not talking about a prettying-up of our favorite tricks and worn out excuses.

We write someone off, or perhaps a whole group or class.

“They're no good anyway.”

When an opportunity for a new ministry comes our way, we look for excuses to avoid it instead of marshaling the resources to work with it.

Then there are the deserts of illness, old age, loneliness, and faithlessness.

“The desert shall bloom,” says Isaiah.

Those persons of situations which we thought were hopeless will be transformed.

And then there are our present day mirages, all those things around us that give us false pictures:

--You will find true happiness by making more trips to the mall.

--The public school can fully take the place of church, Sunday School, and the family in adequately preparing kids for adult life.

--Violence is the quickest and easiest way to win an argument.

--If we come to church on Christmas Eve and squeeze our eyes very tightly, we can will the perfect Christmas to happen, a Christmas like we think that we remember from a long time earlier in our lives.

They are mirages, all of them.

They are false pictures of reality.

The desert shall bloom, says Isaiah.

This is not just wishful thinking, it is faith.

We are invited to trust the God who makes a way when we have no hope of our own, replacing it with faith resting upon our experience of God's goodness in the past.

Again and again the prophets will rehearse the promises made through Abraham and his descendants.

Again and again, God has made something out of nothing, light out of darkness, life out of death.

This God found slaves in Egypt and brought them forth to freedom.

This God reached them in exile, caused a path through the desert, and brought them home.

This God came to us and delivered us through the life, death, and resurrection of a baby born in Bethlehem.

Things may be desert-dry for any number of people here this morning.

If that is true, then listen this morning to the prophet and hear the hope he proclaims; hope not in himself but in the faithful God who makes a way through the desert.

Recall God's acts of unfailing love in the past, and take heart for the future.

God can make a world out of chaos, deliver slaves to freedom, bring exiles home for Christmas, and make any kind of desert burst into bloom.

We are gathered here around what is real, the promises of Jesus.

We are doing what Isaiah says the re-made creation will be doing – we sing God's praise.

When we stick with this core activity in this group established by God, we will be able to sort out the mirages, to evaluate the difficult situations, and join the Christians of every ages in praying: Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus, and make your creation new and whole.

Hark, the glad sound! The Savior comes,

The savior promised long;

Let every heart prepare a throne

And every voice a song. [LBW#35.1]

Let all the people gladly say Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.