Comfort, O Comfort My People 
-- Isaiah Chapter 40 --

Paul Hanson, our commentator and guide says,

"Few prophets, if any, have produced as homogeneous a composition (as Isaiah 40). One can only admire the gifts of someone who can embrace the entire civilized world plus the vast reaches of the cosmos in one sublime poetic picture.... Equally impressive is the power and integrity of the Invitation...denounce self-deception, return to truth, embrace justice, be moved by compassion...find the roots of all life in the Center of all life, the one who...loves each of them as a mother loves a child! In a modern world in which people search in vain for the insights of persons who possess both the inspired poetic imagination and the intellectual honesty to project reliable maps for life's journey, Second Isaiah arrives as a welcome pioneer."

Can Isaiah's words, written to a people carried into exile long ago, speak to us at the end of this century? I believe that they can and do. The nourishment we seek is in discovering a center for our lives, a spiritual center that sustains and nourishes us. Isaiah points the way.

Using the four-step process of relational Bible study, begin to enter the text and let God speak to you through Isaiah's story.

I. Listen

Read Isaiah 40 in several translations. Read aloud. Listen for the instructions given. Hear these words as a people In exile stripped of all the structures and institutions that gave them stability, people afraid for the future! Is God dead? What about the covenant? Why have we been punished? Can God live apart from the temple In Jerusalem? Will we ever go home?

Listen from your own fears.

• What word of comfort do the three voices bring (vs. 3, 6, 9).
• Is there a message in these words for you?
• What actions do they demand?

II. Reflect

You are forgiven! Prepare! Proclaim! vs. 1-8

Your God is Here! vs. 9-11

Isaiah has described a powerful God! God creates, God comes, God rules, God feeds, God gathers, God carries, God gently leads!

To whom will you compare? vs. 12-26

Isaiah compares the sovereignty and incomparable nature of God with the gods they knew in exile; a God powerful over creation, knowledge, all nations and any idols.

Do you not know? vs. 27-31

Isaiah reminds us to remember! v 31.(Exodus 19:4, Deut. 32:10-11)

• Can you find in this magnificent poem any connections for your own nourishment?

III. Connect:

Walter Brueggemann asks,

"How can this cosmic commitment rooted in the very heart of God be real and available to us in ways that make a difference? Exiles are sustained...by regular practice of an alternative liturgy. Liturgy is the regular communal processing of our life and our experience through an alternative set of metaphors, symbols, narratives, memories and hopes.... When the processing of life is mediated through memories of exodus and exile, through crucifixion and resurrection, we experience and discern life differently."

In order to make connection with this scripture, think of the times in your life that you felt exiled from church, community or family and God was far away.

• Is this part of our need for renewal now?
• Do we become exhausted as we try to live a life parallel to our culture?
• What are some actions that sustain you?
• Where do you get the nourishment you need?
• What needs to happen on your the highway?
• High places lowered? Rough places smoothed?
• What makes you weary?
• Can you think of some times that you felt God's energy flowing through you?

IV. Act:

It would seem that the journey to our center is both a corporate and private one. We need to gather regularly with the people of God to hear the story and be reminded of God's creative redemption.

In small groups, we can most nearly understand God's forgiveness through the acceptance of others. Privately we can pray, read and journal to internalize God's loving presence with each of us.

God can also renew us In our action of proclaiming, preparing and questioning. Waiting is an action also. Wait and trust! (v.31)

• Where do you most need renewal in you journey?
• What action will you choose to lead you more deeply into the center of life where God is?

"If the people of faith are to stay true to the mission of Christ in the world, we must be in constant dialogue with the Word of God. We must place the Word in the most intimate and tender center of our lives. We must always touch the face of God before we stretch out our hands to the work of the world and we must reach back to God again and again. In this way is the passionate consuming imagination of God borne forward." (Sojourners Community Statement of Faith)

Song for the Road: "Surely it is God who Saves me, I will trust in God and not be afraid! For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense and God will be my Savior." Isaiah 12:2-6

Readings for the Road:

• Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Isaiah 40-66. Paul Hanson, John Knox Press, 1995.
• I Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now. Maya Angelou, Random House 1993
• "Interpretation and Obedience," from Faithful Reading to Faithful Living. Walter Brueggemann, Fortress Press, 1991
• How Good Do We Have To Be? Harold S. Kushner, Little Brown, 1996
• Bible Basics for the next generation, by Nancy Boyle, 1999 - a collection of Nancy Boyle's relational bible studies (1995-1999).

Nancy Boyle is a workshop leader, teacher and Christian Education Consultant living in Columbia SC.