Day 14 – New Beginnings – by Courtney Micksch
by admin
Courtney Micksch is a Master’s student at Boston College studying English Literature. She strongly dislikes trampolines and loves fireplaces. She also wishes it were socially acceptable to wear glow sticks at all times.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins. Isaiah 40.1-2
How I long to hear these words
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
To have them wash over me
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem
And to believe them
And cry to her
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned
Trusting that God is good
That she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins
While Advent is primarily about waiting, it is also about new beginnings. Advent is the start of the new year—the Christian year. We operate according to a different calendar than the world. I delight in that. I delight in a transcendent rhythm.
I especially longed for a new start this year. The brokenness of the world, the meaninglessness of pain, the lure of sin, the inexplicable misfortunes can be overwhelming. These things can crush us and we find ourselves prone to despair, we stumble, we question, we doubt, or we run. Advent draws us back in. It calls us to refocus. It is precisely in these moments that we must cry out to our God. It is significant that when a voice cries out in Isaiah it is from the wilderness, the thick of sin, or from the desert, a vast loneliness. “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (Isaiah 40.3). Even in the midst of the wilderness we are called to rejoice in the Lord. Even in the desert, perhaps especially in the desert, we are asked to follow our God. I take comfort in this. For all of our sin, for all of the brokenness, we receive double from the Lord. Let us rejoice in that!
Let the old self die. It is a new year.
Our sins are forgiven. It is a new year.
This advent let us start anew. Let us refocus. In the midst of the pain, cry: God is good! Let us wait upon the Lord. Let us never forget who gives us life, and breath, and meaning. Let us shake off our old selves, and wait upon the Lord. No really. Really. Stop. Slow down. Break your ankle so you literally can’t move. But do something real, something practical to shift your rhythm. If we want to enter the transcendent rhythm that Advent offers, then we need to literally make a break, and start new. So stop. Just wait. Just wait upon the Lord.
…but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like the eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40.31
Great post! Thank you!
(“I should be glad of another death.”)
Sometimes when I think about what I would like do for a living, I think about what God instructed Isaiah to do in this passage. In my head, it looks something like this: I would stand on one end of a subway car and simply proclaim “warfare is ended! You iniquity is pardoned!,” kind of like what is done after confession or during the Eucharist. The hope is that if you say this loudly enough in public, then maybe someone would hear and believe. This approach to missions is a little outrageous, but if people really are desperate for a new start, then maybe its not completely unjustified.
Thanks for the great post, Courtney!