The words of Isaiah provided a look at how the "Departure from Empire" begins to take place at the time of Israel.
In parallel fashion, the contemporary news of the gospel is that God invites and summons the faithful to a life beyond the demands and gifts of empire. In the New Testament, that offer is a call to discipleship. In contemporary practice, it is the joyous possibility of joyous existence of what I have elsewhere called the "therapeutic, technological, military consumerism" of our society. While the texts portray this homecoming as a joyous alternative, it is at the same time a costly alternative. Just as the erstwhile slaves in the book of Exodus yearned to return to Pharaoh's Egypt and just as many Jews preferred life in Babylon, so the imaginative possibility among us for an alternative life in the world is not cheap. But to "go out in shalom" is a mantra that continues to ring in the ears of those gathered in the "local tradition" of Yahwism.
It is not easy to live a new life. It is always a matter of stepping away from that which is known - even if that which is known is not at all like the world we hope would exist among us. To step out into the imagination of a new world is to risk what is. That is easy to say and easy to call forth, but it may just be the death of us. Therefore, those prophets keep leading us beyond our fear and into the domain of trust in God alone. When we are out in the wilderness between here and there, life can be hard to take from day to day. When promises are not yet a part of what is, it is easy to break down and fall out of line. But then, we are encouraged again. That can often be enough to see us through to the next place we begin to doubt that God will and does provide.
Connection: It is easy to trust in the short course. Maybe that is because we can see and touch the end - the promise. But in the long haul, trust is not easy. There are too many other promises and rewards that can take our hearts.
You, O God, already have us moving in a new direction even when we are stuck in what is old and overwhelming. We need you constant word to keep pulling us into the promise of your Reign that is at hand - always. Amen.
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