28 December 2005

The poetic imagination of 2nd Isaiah is again before us with insights from Walter Brueggemann.

The poetry (of 2nd Isaiah) is not derived from external historical experience... Poetry here is not simply code language for political events. Rather, the poet appeals to the old memories and affirmations in an astonishing way to jar the perceptual field of Israel and to cause a wholly new discernment of reality. The poetry opens with a heavenly scenario in which the voices of members of the divine council fashion a new proclamation (40:1-8). This is immediately followed by a rhetorical act of enthronement (40:9) in which Yahweh, who had seemed weak, is now placed triumphantly at the head of a grand procession (40:10-11).

In some ways, it is like saying "This is the God we were told about...the God who is just as the poet announces." The poet is already making manifest what is not visible. It is like calling forth words like "all (men) are created equal..." and then, pressing forward as though that is what will indeed be the case among us. We pull it from words and images we know and yet the experience of those words has been lost or forgotten or overturned. Therefore, the words and images must be announced again as though it is a reality about to break in and a reality that cannot be stopped by any power. There is that imagination that does not let the world go on as it is. This is the kind of imagination we are missing within our own nation. We are afraid to imagine what we could be. Instead we settle for the easy road of empire building. This is a road that takes no imagination. It simply demands adherence to the ways of the biggest in the neighborhood. These have always been roads to destruction and ruin. Why can we not follow the ways of peace....is it too frightening...or are we simply ready to settle for immediate images and pictures that the poetry of a new world?

Connection: Even within our families and communities, we can benefit from stepping out beyond the rhetoric of what is and what we think we can handle. Living organisms, like groups of people, need something of substance to help us grow beyond ourselves.

Just as the prophet Isaiah announced the coming of the Lord to an oppressed people, O God, so do we need to hear how you will come to encourage us and lead us along pathways we have yet to walk...but we can be so slow to move and so unsure of the way ahead. Take us by the hand, O God, and deliver us. Amen.