ADVENT WEEK THREE
December 13, 2020
Joy to the COVID World
Isaiah 6:1-4, 8-11
“Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” Isaiah 6:9b
Joy tends to be defined with deep spiritual meaning, and happiness tends to be defined with the temporal and fleeting. I wonder: is this distinction between joy and happiness splitting strands of hair, or is it the split ends of a single strand of hair? I think Isaiah experienced joy and happiness as a single, illusive strand that he desperately longed to know as a unity in the presence of God. As Isaiah considered the social and political realities of his day, he faced a dream deferred by the death of King Uzziah.
To be in the presence of the Lord fills many believers with thoughts of joy. Who among the faithful would not be filled with joy by seeing and hearing the Holy One? Unfortunately, the words spoken to Isaiah were not words that inspired joy or happiness within Isaiah. And the words God instructed Isaiah to speak also did not inspire joy among the people. “Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” For Isaiah, God appeared in the time of trouble, but God’s joy is declared after the struggle.
This has been a year of profound trouble and struggle as millions have been victimized and more than one million have died worldwide from Coronavirus. As we seek God’s face this Advent, our hearts long for the experience of joy in the COVID world. Yet God’s word to Isaiah instructs us to not overlook the desolation wrought by coronavirus. Despite the devastation and death, we are in the presence of our Holy God; and it is only by turning from conventional wisdom that we will be restored to life.
Dr. Lee H. Butler, Jr.
Vice-President of Academic Affairs and Academic Dean
William Tabbernee Professor of the History of Religions and Africana Pastoral Theology
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