Saturday, December 3, 2016

Music of Advent - Toda la Tierra (All Earth is Waiting)

Week 1, Saturday Isaiah 40:3-5


All earth is waiting to see the Promised One,
And the open furrows, the sowing of the Lord.
All the world, bound and struggling seeks true liberty
It cries out for justices and searches for the truth.

It hadn’t rained.  The earth was parched and cracked.  Most wheat didn’t make it to the ground.  Much of what did dried up and blew away.  It was pretty bleak. 

I look around today and see a world bound and struggling.  Listen carefully, and you will hear the cries for justice and truth, which is growing louder every day.  How do we proclaim “Joy to the World” at such a time in human history?  How do we explain peace on earth good will to all humankind to our children?

It hadn’t rained.  The earth was parched and cracked.  Most wheat didn’t make it to the ground.  Much of what did dried up and blew away.  It was pretty bleak.  Then came the glorious summer rain blessing the earth, kissing the ground.  It was warm and sweet and lasted for hours.  Children were dancing in it.  Birds were bathing in puddles.  Farmers, with hats off, lifted their faces to it, their tears mingling with the drops hitting their faces.  The dried furrows were filled with life-giving water from heaven.

All the earth is waiting.  How are you giving hope and courage?  How are you like the rain that blesses the earth?  Do you fill up the low places with life-giving speech?  Or do you dig the trenches deeper and drier?  Do you bless and give life?  Or do you crush and oppress?  There cannot be a somewhere in the middle in this current climate.

All the earth is waiting to see the Promised One.  The world, bound and struggling, desire freedom, justice and truth.  Do you bear the child of promise?  Or do you bear the curse of Herod on the world?  We are waiting.

Every valley shall be lifted up,
   and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
   and the rough places a plain. 
Isaiah 40:4


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