Isaiah 40:1-11 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 40:1-11 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 40Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Verse 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
Verse 3A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Verse 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Verse 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Verse 6A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. Verse 7The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. Verse 8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
Verse 9Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!" Verse 10See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. Verse 11He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Devotion
Into the flowers of the fields that perish, the grass that withers away, the passing power of kings and nations, here is our God. The incredible event for which we wait, of course, is our God who has chosen to enter into all that decays, into all that will die, and to know it with us. No longer will God remain in the heavens or behind a curtain high up on a hill. God becomes one of us to bring life to that which would surely die, and to bring a new heaven and a new earth to the moments when our earthly life is no longer. Advent gives us the time and space once again to believe in and live out this reality.
Prayer
God of life, into the reality that all of life will pass away, you gave us your Son, your gift of eternal life. In the midst of all that fades away, help us to see the possibility of new life. Amen.