We Know Our Iniquities
This seems to be a good reading for Christian Saturday, a period of reflection and waiting. I would think that Saturday would also accommodate hope, but Isaiah doesn’t seem to offer much hope in this passage. Here, God is invisible and inactive and the reason for this appears to be the transgressions and sins of His people. This seems to me to be the state of the world today. We have drifted away from relationship with God and in return, God has become hidden from us. God is so absent, that many cry out that God must not exist. Isaiah makes the nature of our sins clear to us, and there are indeed many to recognize. The outcome of our sin is God’s inaction. We wait for justice and light, but neither is close at hand. All in all, this is a depressing story.
Lent is a period during which Christians reflect on our transgressions and ask for forgiveness, looking forward to the hope of Easter. For me, today’s reading emphasizes the many ways in which we sin and the damage that we inflict on our relationship with God. As a consequence, peace and justice elude us and we exist only in darkness and gloom. It would seem that it is up to us to make amends to God, and to each other. I guess that we could begin with the words of the New Creed whereby we promise to “celebrate God’s presence, to live with respect in Creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil”. Because “God is with us. We are not alone.”
Thanks be to God.
In Your mercy, help us to feel Your presence in our lives and in the world. As we wait, let us wait in hope for the blossoming of peace, justice, and light. And may we see that hope in the promise of the resurrected Christ. Amen.