11.27

Watching for Good News (God & Lisa)

Isaiah 52:7-8

7  How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    “Your God reigns!”
8  Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
    they will see it with their own eyes.

In the account of the birth of Christ, Good News comes in a variety of ways to those whose participation is recorded in Scripture. Good News, Mary! Good News, Joseph! I think the Good News presented became what must have felt like a roller coaster ride to the humans that experienced Christ within and through a fiancé.  I like the dramatic Good News presented to the Shepherds. I’ve been taught the Shepherds were the least likely to be included in society. To have a heavenly host proclaiming Good News  immediately elevated them. And, what a show it must have been. 

Another Biblical account of someone watching for good news is the Prophet Elijah. He foretold the coming of rain to a land experiencing drought and famine. He sends his servant to look for clouds seven times before the heavens open. The sign he sees first is a cloud the size of a man’s hand.    

Living with blue skies today, while looking for the good news of a cloud is a tension. Maybe the tension is a gift?

— Lisa Howland