Last week we explored Isaiah 11 through the eyes of painter Edward Hicks and his favourite subject, the Peaceable Kingdom. If you recall, he painted Isaiah’s words: the wolf living with the lamb, the cow feeding with the bear; leopard and goat, lion and ox, lying down together; children playing amongst vipers and not being hurt. We reflected on the complete change in animal nature. And if animal nature can change – is there a possibility – a hope – that human nature can change too?
Fast
forward from chapter 11 to chapter 35 of Isaiah. Isaiah has returned to the same
theme, but this time rather than change in animal nature, the focus is on
ecological change. Isaiah takes readers to the desert – barren, wild, and
windswept; inhospitable for travelers and a harsh environment for anything that
tries to grow.
Isaiah
writes of a changed ecology - where fresh water runs through the desert,
burning sand turns into refreshing pools; and the growth of plants like crocus
cover the ground with abundant blossoms. Dry land shall be glad, the desert
shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus, it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice
with joy and singing.
Deserts.
Dryland.
Parched places. The barren, the wild, the windswept. Inhospitable and harsh
environments.
The
world has an alarming number of physical deserts - approximately 32 million
square kilometres of desert.
The
world has an alarming landmass of physically barren and inhospitable land due
to human actions of open pit mining, tailing ponds, nuclear meltdowns, toxic
poisoning.
The
world has dangerous unusable tracks of land from war that have left 110 million
landmines in the ground.
The
world has other deserts too. Deserts that are not physical land specific
places. There are deserts of trauma, grief, loneliness; climate anxiety, marginalization,
poverty, debt, famine – of all kinds physical, emotional, relational,
spiritual. Deserts expand in the situations
and circumstances that have humans experience abandonment; feelings of
emptiness; a dullness or boredom in every day living.
‘The
other deserts’ are affecting our lives in pronounced ways.
For
a month now the Hallmark channel has been showing Christmas movies. Many of the
movies have scenes placed in Christmas markets. Like the Evergreen Festival on
the waterfront in Halifax, the staged market areas have wooden kiosks with fronts
that open. Kiosks hand out warm drinks, provide Christmas cookies, display ornaments
and other crafts for sale, and may include a wrapping service. The areas are strung with lights, festooned in
greenery, and filled with live holiday music. Seating areas are provided around
fire installations and welcoming photo vignettes engage visitors. People in the
Hallmark movies are seen as happy and smiling – full of joy, peace, and
goodwill.
This
fascination with ‘Evergreen Christmas markets’ has dramatically increased in
the past few years. I wonder if it is connected to ‘the other deserts’ we find
ourselves living in?
Are
the Christmas markets and the Evergreen Festivals an attempt to reclaim the
desert or at least momentarily stop the desert from spreading? Creating beauty
and ambience, a place for people to gather and be a community; a place to
connect with the smell of nature and the warmth and glow of fire; to draw on
memories, nostalgia; offer a few moments of comfort, hygge – where the spirit
is lifted.
‘Desert
greening’ is an actual thing. It is
human action in reclaiming desert areas. It takes patience and time, using
multiple techniques and expertise. Greening deserts is ecological change that has
the potential to return life and biodiversity to the world. It is also possible
that reclamation of desert can solve the world’s water, energy, and food
crisis.
As
church, not all churches, but this church – we practice what the Evergreen
Festivals and Christmas Markets are trying to do – pushing back the desert: offering hope and comfort; creating an
ambience of peace by candlelight; gathering community, around a table, coffee fellowship;
offering kiosks that include scripture stories, life application, theatre,
music; and if anyone wants a present wrapped – there is a crew well practiced
from wrapping shoeboxes for the Mission to Seafarers.
The
trouble is there is a desert, and our work in here, as good and as healing as
it is to us, will not draw in much of the world around us. The world has tired of a church -in the broad
sense of church- that is though of as irrelevant, ineffective, stogie, having caused
more harm than good. And their arguments are fair.
What
would happen if we set our sights on offering a different kind of Christmas
Market or Evergreen Festival, based on chapter 35 of Isaiah. Imagine kiosks where
one is given sight- free to the visitor optometry appointments and if needed
free glasses. A kiosk with a hearing technician with free hearing exams and
free to the visitor hearing aids. A kiosk with fittings and free to the visitor
braces, canes, walkers, or wheelchairs. A kiosk with a speech pathologist for
free assessments and therapy.
And
let us not forget ‘the other deserts.’ ...and this time I mean us.
How
many centuries have people prayed the words of Isaiah? That the deaf hear, the
blind see, the mute speak? Imagine kiosks – that open ears, eyes, and mouths –
changing human nature:
The
Deaf- changed -to hear the cries of marginalized and poor
The
Blind- changed -to see the plight of others and injustices
The
Mute – changed – to have mouths open to speak out, speak up, advocate
Once
you see injustice, you can’t un-see it. Once you hear the cries of the poor, you
cannot unhear them. If your mouth is opened, you cannot stop speaking out.
This
kind of kiosk changes human nature; it is relevant and effective, and far from
stogie.
As
one takes their leave from Isaiah’s Evergreen Christmas Market, the hand-painted
country-crafted sign at the exit encourages taking the market-spirit with them.
It is God’s message to us through Isaiah’s hand – to face the desert and work
at desert greening. The sign reads:
Strengthen
– the weak hands
Make
firm- the feeble knees
Say
to the fearful – be strong,
May
a change in human nature, work through us, work through me.
Amen.
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