Following The Star: Yearning

"Following The Star:  Yearning"
Isaiah 2:1-5

Did you notice that word—
that word that comes up more often than any other
(ten times to be exact)
that word that seems so invisible
but yet holds within it the meaning
and the promise
of this passage.
It is the little word, “shall.”
From the very first
“It shall come to pass…”
To the very last
“…neither shall they learn war anymore”
These ten “shalls”
embody the hopes
the dreams
the gut-felt yearnings
of God’s people.

“Shall” is a word of hope,
because it speaks
of something
that will come
not might come
not a possibility
but an assurance.
“It shall come to pass…”

And so we wonder when…

When shall the house of the Lord
gain such prominence
that it can’t be taken for granted anymore?
When shall God’s house
gain such visibility
such attractiveness
that people will be naturally drawn to it?
When shall the church
gain such a position of positive leadership
that nations shall be drawn under its wings
rather than the other way around?
Instead,
the leadership of the church
shown, for example,
in the media circus of the Supreme Court decision
in Ferguson, Missouri
this week,
is embodied in buffoons
like Rev. Al Sharpton
who thinks he can swing like Tarzan
into the midst of that situation
and create a voice of calm.
The sad thing about Rev. Al
and those like him
is not that everyone knows he’s a media buffoon
except himself
is not his message
or his title
But that most Americans don’t care.
There was a time when America listened
to it’s religious leaders
and tall steeple preachers
and the church had a voice
and that voice had some power
and that power was paid attention to.
But no more.
Instead everyone waits for the fall
Like Seattle Mars Hill Mega Church pastor
Mark Driscoll
who resigned recently
being accused as a bully
over other church leadership
and other church members.
When shall the church be a force again in our culture
rather than a farce?
When will the church find its voice again
and be listened to
rather than ignored
as irrelevant?
When shall people
join hand-in-hand
in their eagerness to go to the house of the Lord?
When shall the bleeding of church membership stop
where people are leaving the church
in huge flocks
and instead of going on to a different church
go no where—
they leave the church for no where.
When shall they return?
When shall divisiveness
of so many opinions
about God and his ways
come to an end
where people only gravitate
to what they want to hear
pablum
tasteless
Joel Osteen drivel.
When shall all of that end
and we sit at the feet of the Master—
God Himself
and know first hand what God wants
rather than hear it
from arrogant fools
who think they speak for God?
When shall we know
that we are making the right decisions
for our lives
going along the straight and narrow
rather than veering
deviating
and generally being diverted
from God’s due course?
When shall we stop compromising our souls away
little bits of self
here and there
until we finally look in the mirror
and can’t see much of any substance left
and for the life of us
don’t even know where it’s all gone
or how it happened?
When shall truth
and justice
and true justice
prevail?
Not Supreme Court truth
debated over
based on conflicting bits of law
and  scurrilous opinions of this and that
but on truth?
Truth with a capital T?
When shall Pilate’s question
spoken to Jesus at Jesus’ trial—
“What is truth?”—
never have to be asked again?
When shall the victims of crime
get more attention
than the malefactors?
When shall victims of rape
and child sexual abuse
not be afraid
to stand up and courageously
speak their pain
because they’re afraid they won’t be heard
or worse
be blamed for the atrocity
that was forced on them
by someone they trusted?
When shall we finally be concerned
for the rights and the respect
of the victims
rather than worrying if the rights of the perpetrators
are being violated?
When shall a healthy respect
for what is right
and what is wrong
replace what’s culturally cool at the moment
smooth talk
and misguided morals
befuddling us into thinking
that wrong is right
and
right is wrong?
And that if we don’t think
like the movie stars
and stoop to their level of morality
or march to their drumbeat
of tolerance for every unBiblical lifestyle
that we are the ones
who are socially unacceptable!?
When shall an enduring peace
captivate the nations?
When shall come the day
when there shall no longer be any mention of
beheadings
armed drones
stealth bombers
IED’s
suicide bombers
because we finally stood up and said “enough”!?
Because there’s a better way
to resolve our conflicts?
When shall our war-bent technology
dismantle itself
rather than threaten
to obliterate the innocents?
Collateral damage?
When shall we be able to dance
under the banner of peace
rather than
cringe under the dooming
     shadow
     of
     terrorism?
When shall we be able to dismantle
the NSA
the CIA
the FBI
the KGB
NCIS
Homeland Security
because there’s nothing for them to do?

These are the yearnings
of God’s people
from Isaiah until now—
nothing has changed.

Oh God!  When will Thy day come!?


Maybe these yearnings
are not your own.
Maybe they are too global
too sweeping
too broad
too incomprehensible
in their magnitude
to fit into your own
personal world.
Maybe your yearnings
are more secret
hidden and tucked away
where you hope against hope
that some day
in a way that will almost assuredly have to be miraculous
they shall be fulfilled.

When shall cancer
and alzheimers
and AIDs
and heart disease
mental illness
and all the other illnesses
stop threatening
and torturing
and sucking
by inches at a time
our lives, and
the lives of family
and friends?
When shall drug abuse
and alcohol abuse
cease waving its skull and crossbones
over the living
the dead
and the living dead?
When shall marriage
taste romance again—
where eyes reflect only each other’s image
where years of assumed familiarity
have unfolded and developed
into a parallel kind of relationship
where lives seldom
if ever
intersect anymore
and refuse to be dressed
in the “one flesh” that God intended;
and how that same familiarity
has caused both husband and wife
to miss the subtle
and sometimes not so subtle
personality
and spiritual
changes that have occurred;
and,
how that same familiarity has lulled into the lie,
that nothing can ever be new
and fresh again?
When shall loneliness
leave us alone?
When shall the day come
that we shall find that special friend
who we can share our world with
who we can share our secrets with
in whose presence we won’t feel ashamed
but free,
someone who needs our friendship
just as much as we need theirs;
so, when we are asked the question:
Is there someone who really knows you,
we can joyfully answer
YES?

When shall?
When shall?
When shall?
Are these
some of your questions
some of your needs
some of your deeper
personal
yearnings?

O God, when shall Thy day come
so that yearnings
that fill our days
and weigh down our hearts
and minds
might be fulfilled?


Do not these deep yearning needs
cry out for a Savior?
One who is bigger than life
bigger than our lives, anyway
who can take the fulfillment of our wishes
and deliver us?
Not some cosmic Santa Claus
who would wrap our yearnings
in pretty paper
and make us think
behind the ribbons
and the glitter
and all the twinkling lights
and the ho, ho, ho’s
that
by the hand of that Santa Claus
we finally got what we have been yearning for.

We do need to be frank with ourselves
concerning our yearnings.
The truth is,
all yearnings are global in nature—
that is,
they are all of such great and dire need
that they will take more power
than we can muster
for them to be healed
or fulfilled
or brought under control
or done on earth
as they are in heaven.
They would not be yearnings
if they weren’t.

And so we grope
for even a shred of hope
for even a rumor of promise
that will lead us in that direction.
We look up into the heavens
and cry out to God
asking God
“In which direction should I look?”
As we await God’s answer,
our vision comes to rest upon a certain star
one that shines a bit more brightly than the others
one whose light
comes out like spikes
No,
like rays of hope.
We can almost hear Jiminy Cricket
singing in the background:
“When you wish upon a star…”

As the star makes its slow movement across the sky
we are tempted to follow its leading
not knowing where it’s going
or where we’re going—
If it is some kind of Godly sign
or if it is simply
a natural stellar movement
explained by science.
But
these rays of light
these rays of hope
are wooing us
bidding us to take a risk
pulling at us
pulling at our hopes and yearnings
for our world
for our own hope for fulfillment
our own desires that our dreams come true.

Because,
somehow we know
and we can’t explain how we know
we just do
that Someone larger than life
is behind the movement of that star,
and maybe
just maybe,
that Someone
awaits us at the end of the rainbow arc of this star.

Shall our yearnings finally come to pass?
Shall the primacy of the Lord’s house be established?
Shall the Lord unite us all in Him?
Shall God himself teach his people?
Shall true justice finally prevail?
Shall an enduring peace captivate our globe?
Shall morality be finally clear?
Shall there be an end to threatening and destructive illness?
Shall marriages find new life?
Shall loneliness be overcome by friendship?
Shall?
Shall?
Shall?

We hear the words of Isaiah
echo in our ears
as if they had been floating through the ages,
waiting for a receptive place
on which to finally come to rest:
“Now it shall come about…”
It shall come about…
It is that promise
that drives us to the star
that bids us follow it
because our yearnings are too deep
and the hope emanating from that star is too great
for us to do otherwise
to turn back from such a quest.

And so we turn,
and begin
following the star.