Advent
November 24, 2014
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him. —Isaiah 64:1-4
Oklahoma has been experiencing what is called a “swarm” of earthquakes for the past few years. Since January 2009 [through October 2013], more than 200 magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes have rattled Central Oklahoma, marking a significant rise in the frequency of these seismic events….This “swarm” includes the largest earthquake ever recorded in Oklahoma, a magnitude 5.6 that occurred near Prague Nov. 5, 2011.* There is a lot of concern that this swarm may be the result of oil wells being drilled using a method called hydraulic fracturing and its accompanying wastewater disposal. It’s a tough issue with which to deal when the oil industry is a primary source of livelihood for many Oklahomans.
I was not at home the day of the Prague earthquake, but when I returned to my home all the pictures on my walls were on the floor, one with broken glass. It was eerie walking into my house sensing something was amiss but taking some time to figure it out. I didn’t know what the probable cause was until I heard the news later that evening of the recovery work being done to buildings closer to Prague.
The prophet in our scripture today is wishing that God would get our attention, all nations’ attention, with as much intensity as an earthquake so that we and all the nations might know and recognize the one all-powerful God who works for those who wait for him.
I have lived in Oklahoma most of my life, have a working knowledge of tornados, draught, floods, and hail storms, but had never experienced an earthquake until some months after the one at Prague. It got my attention. I understand the prophet’s illustration. Today we mark the beginning of our waiting for a Savior. I pray that these next four weeks will be a time of deep contemplation on the one who is coming, who has come, and who is now with us forever from whom we gain a new and refreshed sense of God in our time and in our place and a new and refreshed sense of our role in living in God’s time and place.
Prayer: O God of Hope, as we enter this time of Advent bless us with new insights, new courage, and new hope built upon our past, present, and future. Amen.
*http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3710&from=rss#.VHJlC7l0ycw
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.