The beginning of Lent is marked by ash, a timely reminder of the cycle of death and resurrection. In this Whirlow blog, we look at two verses from Isaiah and wonder what they might say to us; about the storms raging across the world – and signs of life amidst devastation. We are invited to respond.
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
We are born, we live, but we will die. Echoing liturgy from funeral services, these words may be whispered:
Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.
We have come from nothing, the very earth itself, and we will return to it.
Today’s recommended readings from the book of Isaiah present two different life-related cycles for reflection. Perhaps they also speak to the recent meteorological storms experienced here in the UK, and the geopolitical storms currently unfolding across eastern Europe and the world.
You can find the whole of chapter 55 here. Today, we focus on verses 10-11.
In verse 10 we are invited to consider the rain and the snow. Images of recent storms battering the UK come to mind - with power cuts, fallen fences, damaged cars, and uprooted trees. For those whose lives and livelihoods have been affected, it can perhaps be hard to remember the purpose of the rain.
Yet rain itself is part of a life cycle, and Isaiah reminds us, that rain and snow:
do not return [to heaven] until they have watered the earth
So, spring has been sown, even in the storm – there is life offered even in the devastation and in the direst conditions:
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater
Take a moment, if you like, to ponder on this cycle of weather – and on Isaiah’s words. What are you feeling?
After the rain, Isaiah invites us to reflect on another cycle in verse 11 – the cycle of God’s own Word:
that goes out from [his] mouth
And which we are promised:
shall not return to me empty
– Isaiah 55: 10-11 (NRSV)
God’s Word here is likened to rain falling to the ground – which in the downpour might seem unrelated to the daffodil or crocus that will soon peek its head out of the ground – but is interconnected, caught up in the same cycle. The Word of God is not empty but teems with life!
Photo by Lucas Myers on Unsplash
At the beginning of creation in the book of Genesis, we see God’s divine Word, paraphrased below, tumble into the darkness:
Let there be light.
Let the land produce.
Let water teem with life.
Let us create mankind in our image.
Let there be.
Life is breathed into nothing through the Word of God. Music is breathed into the silence through the Word of God. Humanity is breathed into the dust, the dirt, the ash, through the Word of God.
Let us pause, in this beginning – though we are surrounded by the darkness.
Let us pause, knowing that when a divine Word is spoken, it does not return empty.
Storms are raging, in Ukraine, in Afghanistan, in Yemen, across the world.
As ash falls around us, it may seem hard to hear a divine voice; to believe that any word spoken achieves the purpose for which it was spoken. But the cycle of death and resurrection is central to the Christian faith.
How is that cycle present in your life right now?
How is that cycle present in the world?
May we listen closely for the divine Word whispering through the darkness.