Containing a word about churches – there must be more than this.

And so we come to the last two chapters of Isaiah. Some would say I timed that perfectly. Not because it’s the end of the the month, but because I go on holiday tomorrow and it will be good to have a break.

I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, “Here am I, here am I.”

All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations –
a people who continually provoke me
to my very face…   Isaiah 65:1-3

God reaches out.

All through history, God has been reaching out (and yet, the people still sacrificed to other gods and tried to commune with the dead).

God is reaching out now (and yet, the atrocities and greed and self-seeking of some humans in this world right now are incomprehensible).

He is always there, waiting for you and me to turn to Him. To walk with Him. To live in His way.

But if we choose to continue on without Him, there will be consequences at some point because –

I called but you did not answer,
I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me.  Isaiah 65:12

God is going to create new heavens and a new earth. There’s been a lot of speculation about what this is going to look like. It says here it will be a delight and a joy. Maybe that is all we need to know. No more weeping and crying. Everything will be as it should be. As God always intended it to be right from the start. It doesn’t seem to be the place where we’re going to sit around playing harps all day. We will work but it will be satisfying work – everyone will have enough and there will be no exploitation. Everyone will get along. There will be no rivalry, greed, jealousy, selfishness. Everyone will have a right attitude before God.

These are the ones I look on with favour:
those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
and who tremble at my word.  Isaiah 66:2

As for the context of Isaiah 66, they’re getting it wrong down at the temple. The ones who are meant to be pointing the way to God are getting it all wrong. Maybe that is how God is feeling about some of the elements of His church on earth right now. The terrible stuff that has been done and said in His name over the year cannot have gone unnoticed. I read reports that make me ashamed to be a Christian. I hear people talk in ways that embarrass me as a Christian. I find it hard to say that I’m a Christian because of the image Christians have portrayed in the news and the media.

Even in our local churches, we can be guilty of falling into a rut and getting too comfortable – we are not careful enough about what we present and we are in danger of presenting an image of God that is boring and irrelevant. We use words and phrases that people do not understand. We sing songs with lyrics that do not make sense. We say that God is love and yet we do nothing to serve our communities in any practical way. We say God brings life and light and joy and yet our worship is boring and lifeless and predictable.

The ones who are meant to be pointing the way to God are getting it all wrong.

There must be more than this.

‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,’ says the Lord.  Isaiah 66:22-23

It will be different. It can be different. An enduring community radiating God’s love and light that will draw all people to Him.

And we can start living in that new story right now.