My Country Tis of Thee...

Dear Folks,



It is a gorgeous day outside, but i realize, even as i write these words, that there is a storm a brewing, change in coming, and how quickly spring fades back into winter. Oh the crazy ride we call life. But we are safe, right? We have solid homes? We have food on our table? We, most of us, have healthy families, steady jobs, and warm clothes. However, not all know the blessedness of much.



This week we will unpack what troubles our country, whatever each of you feels, believes is wrong with our country, and there are no wrong answers. This is truly a chance for you, each of you, to bring a symbol of what ails the United States, and there are no limits to what you can bring. And be ready to leave your broken gift at the altar, for good. But more than that, be ready to lift the brokenness to our God for healing, answer to prayer, and restoration of our united soul.



I chose Isaiah 40 because the author of Isaiah talks about the sins of Israel, and they are many. But God's grace is larger than even the sins of the people, as a nation. What are the sins? We are never told. But we are told that God stands ready to release their collective guilt and shame, so that they, as one nation, can return to the embrace of their Creator. The chapter feels almost like Job in that the author has to remind his hearers that God didn't need input when God created everything. God stood alone and created alone, and all that God created was good.



So bargaining with God, trying to tell God what God should do, as a race/nation of God followers, is rather arrogant and fruitless. God will simply blow the people away like the wind strips the flowers of their petals. But God's plan is not punishment but restoration and healing, because after the winds of God's Breath overwhelms the nation, God will send a prophet, one that speaks, acts, and represents the Divine. God is sending a Messiah, and if we would choose to listen, trust, and submit to the Creator of the Cosmos, the God who took clay and created life, then we can walk and not faint, work and not grow weary, and fly like eagles.



In the folds of God's embrace, truly in God's embrace, our country can soar to new heights of Divine blessedness. But what does a Godly country resemble? That, my friends, is the question that we all must wrestle with and work through, if we are to be, truly be, that great nation, the city on the hill, and dare i say, even the new Zion. For any nation that envelopes the fullness of God's will, automatically becomes the dwelling place of the Creator, and that lamp on the stand. But what does it take to be Godly? Amen...



Shalom,

jerry