It’s a Long Road

What a glorious day… the day that the prophet Isaiah speaks of in our text for today!  It is a day filled with joy!  What a contrast Isaiah presents between the present and the future… between what we know now and what we will see then.  The desert will blossom.  Have you ever seen the glory of the desert after a hard rain when all the cacti bloom?  I have had the privilege of being in both Phoenix and Tucson when the first fall rains come after a long hot, dry summer.  The sight that greets your eyes the following day is breath-taking… even for those who have lived in desert regions for years… for the colors are glorious.

Isaiah is talking about signs of change… signs of something new.  During the fifteen years that I lived in the Chicago area, I endured the cold each winter.  I told my friends that my jaws would lock around October 1^st to keep my teeth from chattering constantly.  Those locked jaws would not unlock until I saw those first crocuses blooming.  I remember looking out of my kitchen window in the early days of March, waiting for those blossoms to break through the melting snow, for I knew that they were a sign of warmer days to come.

Signs of change… the Messiah is coming!  How will we know?  The desert will bloom.  People who are blind will receive their sight.  They will be able to see the faces of those they love and behold the glory of God.  People who cannot hear will have the world of sound restored to them.  They will hear the whisper of the wind, the love in the voices of friends, and the majesty of the angel choirs.  People who have been disabled will be healed and able to do many things that they have not done for years… to leap like deer… to run… to dance.  When I spoke to Jo Dennis at her husband’s funeral yesterday, she said me, “I know that Jim is in a better place… and that he has a brand new arm now.”  And, through her tears, she smiled.  Only she knew how important that would be to him.

Isaiah was addressing his words to the children of Israel who were in exile in Babylon, sharing with them the promise of God that, some day, their exile would end and that they would all come home again.  He was describing the joy that they would feel on that day, but they were having a difficult time feeling that joy… for they were prisoners of war.  All that they knew was that they were far from home… they were being treated like they were the scum of the earth… and that many of their loved ones were dead… or missing.  Nothing was the same any more.  There was nothing to be joyful about… there was no reason to live… UNLESS… Unless Isaiah’s words were true!

What a vision of hope he painted for them!  What an unbelievable dream of joy!  The sands that they had walked across for miles to come to this foreign land… those sands would turn into pools of water on the day of the Lord’s coming!  There would be springs of water in the desert.  Everything would be different.  Their lives would be changed forever.  And there would be a highway there… the Holy Way… for God’s people would travel on that road… for that road was built for them.  And there’s more:  Travelers would be safe… on that road… from lions and other ravenous beasts.  And, as I shared with the children, no one would get lost or go in the wrong direction… for everyone will be going the same direction… toward home… toward Jerusalem… toward Zion.

When you spend some time with these words and think of the vision of Isaiah for this glorious day… the day of the Lord’s coming… you realize that it could be a real day in history… the day of their emancipation from the Babylonians… or it could be a different kind of day of release from bondage… the day that they go to be with God for eternity.  I thought of that when I heard Jo Dennis’ words yesterday.  Either way, the children of Israel would be free.

During the long years that African Americans struggled for freedom in this country, I am sure that they experienced days of bleak despair… days when they believed that freedom was just an elusive dream.  Then, someone would come along and paint a picture for them, just as Isaiah painted a picture for the children of Israel.  The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was just such a person.  And on that day in 1963 when he preached his “I Have a Dream” sermon on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he set people’s hearts on fire with hope for the future… their future… a future so different from what they knew then.  It was out of that struggle for freedom and that vision of a better day that the song “It’s a Long Road to Freedom” was born.  I remember singing it when I was younger…  “It’s a long road to freedom, a winding steep and high…”  Do you remember it?  It’s a song that speaks of both the joy of the vision and the pain of the struggle… but it says that, with love… and music, the miles would fly by unnoticed.  How true that is!  So many of us… when we have a difficult task to do… crank up the music to help our mood… or find someone to share the load so that it won’t be so onerous.  Can you imagine even trying to do a Habitat house all by yourself?  Somehow, the task gets done more quickly… and we find ourselves in a much better place… psychologically… when we work together… and whistle while we work.  It worked for the dwarves in the story of Snow White… and it works for us today.

I often think of our walk as Christians down the road that God has put before us.  It is a long road… a winding road… and sometimes steep and high.  All of us had times on that road that have challenged our faith… events and people that have pushed us toward the edge… and sometimes off… that road.  It is not easy to be a faithful Christian today.  It is not easy to show love to everyone we meet.  It is not easy to set time aside from our busy schedules to read God’s word… or to pray.  It is not easy to speak of our faith to others… to share our story… And, at this time of year, when we look back at the year we have just been through, we sometimes wonder whether it is worth it.  Yes, we are on the King’s Highway… the road to freedom… the Holy Way… leading us toward Zion… but do we really want to be?

And so, through the prophets, God created a vision for us… a vision of hope… a vision of love… the gift of a Son who will change the world… the gift of a Son who will change us… Jesus Christ, our Savior.  He comes as a baby in the manger… a gift from God… of God… to be with us.  Someone to walk with us along the road… someone to sing with us… pray with us… strengthen us when we are weak.  We are not alone on this journey of life.  We are on the King’s Highway… the King walks with us.

Do you remember the story in scripture when Elijah was so discouraged that he fled into the desert to escape the anger of Queen Jezebel?  He ran to hide in a mountain, but God found him there and asked him what he was doing there.  Full of bitterness, Elijah told God that he was the only person left on the face of the earth who was faithful to God … and he could not do it alone.  God told him that he was not alone… that there were 7,000 others in the land who had always been faithful to God.  And then, God reminded Elijah that God was also with him.

We are never alone on the King’s Highway.  There are more Christians alive in the world today than ever before in the history of humankind.  We need to walk together down this road… this highway that God has put before us.  It will not always be an easy road to walk, but all along the road, we will find crocuses blooming through the snow… springs of water flowing in the desert… and the smiles of friends to hold us up in love.  “I walked one morning with my King and all my winters turned to spring.  Yet every moment had its sting.  It’s a long road to freedom, a winding steep and high, but if you walk in love with the wind on your wings and cover the earth with the songs you sing, the miles fly by.”  Walking together… singing… holding each other up… the miles on the highway will fly by.  But, there is more to the story than that… God is with us… Immanuel… our Messiah.  God is with us!  That’s the promise of Advent!  Amen.