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Isaiah 60: No More Day and Night

Isaiah 59:20 RSV — “And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.

Isaiah 60:12 RSV — For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.

Isaiah 60:18-20 RSV — Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.

I dream of a time when we are all gathered on a new Earth, in a glorified Zion. There is no more darkness, the sky is filled with the light of the moon and stars and sun.

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Isaiah 59: Poetry for the Damned

Isaiah 59:5-6 RSV — They hatch adders’ eggs, they weave the spider’s web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched. Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.

When we sin, the fruit of our labor is rotten. No one can eat it. When there is enough sin, no one eats, no one is clothed, and we are not safe from the dangers of nature.

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Isaiah 58: The Spirit at Work in the World

Matthew 23:23 KJV — Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Isaiah 58:9-10 RSV — Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. “If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

We are the instruments for the Holy Spirit’s work in the world. We must be open to serving our fellow man and lifting their burdens.

As I find my path more clearly, the opportunities to help others multiply. Yet, it never seems like enough.

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There are no Book Bans

The availabilty of books in our society is beautiful (libraries, local, regional, and national bookshops, Target, Walmart, big box stores, grocery stores, thrift shops, Little Free Libraries, Facebook Marketplace, garage sales, borrowing from friends, antique stores, random take-a-book-leave-a-book bins, drug stores, campgrounds, newsstands, churches, community centers, etc…) Each of these places is different, but they share a common limiting factor: space. What books end up on these various shelves is decided in as many ways as there are places. But choices must be made.

Only one of those places is accused of “banning” books. It is misdirection. It is a ploy to divide us over a problem that is a symptom of a diseased system.

As long as we trust government to educate our children and decide what they read, we will remain victims of those who run that government.