Quick Summary:

Stirring our hearts and minds this morning, Isaiah invites us to take the risk of using our imaginations to dream with him God’s own dream for the world. A dream where a green shoot emerges from a bleak landscape and a child becomes a sign that the world is about to turn.

In the first book of the Harry Potter series there is a mirror that is different than any other. When you gaze into this mirror, instead of seeing your own image you see the deepest longings of your heart revealed. When Harry looks into the mirror, his sees his mother and father, long dead, embracing him with their arms and smiles. This scene of their reunion so captivates Harry that he wants to spend all his time there in front of the mirror, wishing his life away. But a mentor helps him understand that if he spends his life gazing into that mirror he will never attain the sense of belonging he seeks.

The prophet Isaiah held up a mirror, of sorts, to God’s people. This mirror showed them the truth about their unfaithful lives, rather than what they wanted it to see. But that’s not the only thing he showed them. In this mornings reading, Isaiah’s mirror takes on a new function. It unveils for God’s people a vision of the future which inspires them, and us, to return to trusting, to hold on to truth, and to believe that God’s dream for the world is not mere fantasy.