Out Our Way: This is the way

Isaiah 40:1 - "Every valley shall be raised up and every hill and mountain leveled, the twisted places straight and uneven ground leveled ... ."

Out our way, I am amazed at how the cattle trails always seem to be the easiest roads to follow. Occasionally we have new pastures as Big Mike will lease out different grazing grounds, but Charlie rides point and guides us in the best and easiest route. He knows where the water is and the gate that opens into fresh pasture, and also the smoothest way to get there. The cattle and I, riding drag, appreciate that! 

The image of God as the shepherd was very much a part of the Scriptures, especially in those days of turmoil and hardship after Solomon's foolishness led to the collapse of the Kingdom. One trial after another ... one enemy after another ... and yet the promise of the Promised Land remained. Though constantly attacked and persecuted, Israel always came back.

Today, as Advent continues and the prophecies of old are remembered, the promise of the right trail that leads home is especially poignant. People see Armageddon on the horizon as the rise of anti-semitism emerges in the Middle East but also in Europe and here in the USA in proportions not seen since the holocaust. It is not the nation of Israel that is the target, but the Jewish people ... for it is not Isrealis whose homes and businesses are located in the modern "Kristallnacht" riots and attacks in major cities. Jewish students (not Israelis) are persecuted on Ivy League college campuses and death to Jews rhetoric is ignored by faculty and administration. The "hills are alive" with the call for genocide.

Ah, but the "people who walk in the present darkness will see a great light" for the valleys will be raised up, the hills made low, the crooked are made straight, and the rough places made plain." This is the promise of Advent, the season of darkness that anticipates the coming of the Light.    

Ask The Philistines. Ask the Assyrians. Ask the Babylonians Ask the Greeks. Ask the Romans. Ask the Turks. Ask Hitler. And ask Arafat. The people who walked in darkness have always seen a great light. (Isaiah 9:2) And behold - the way has always been found. As that great Russian priest explained when asked how he survived the communists, he pointed out that Marx and Nietche and Lenin all said the Church would die, but they are all dead and the Church is still here. Stalin said the Church would die, but Stalin also died and we are still here. Every generation raised up new "leaders" who declare they will replace God and the Church will die. But they fail and die while all dead but the Church is still here.  

God leads His people in the Way and history shows that as hard as the trail may be, in the end "every valley is raised up, every hill made low, the crooked is made straight, the rough places become a plain." We celebrate this at Advent and are reminded not only by the Prophets - but by the history books as well.

Be blessed and be a blessing.

Brother John 

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].