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 Sometimes when you think about God, you feel like you have double vision; it's almost as if there are two Gods. 

Being Prepared: Double Vision - Isaiah 35 - December 16, 2007 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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            Sometimes when you think about God, you feel like you have double vision; it's almost as if there are two Gods. I've heard people talk that way before, saying something like, "I had to replace my judging God with a loving God" - as if they were talking about two different deities. One is hard and vengeful; the other is merciful and longsuffering. Another way of thinking about this is to see the two distinct approaches to how we should regard God in the Bible: should we fear God or should we love Him?

            This morning's scripture from Isaiah gives us a God to love. It is full of good news: the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom. They shall see the glory of the Lord ... the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped ... a highway shall be there, for the Lord's people." What a glorious vision ... a loving image of God, especially read in the Christian context, where we celebrate the fulfillment of this grand prophecy by celebrating Jesus - God's own Son sent into the world to give his life on the cross for each of us. That cross of Jesus - among all the aspects of its rich meaning - is the ultimate symbol of a God whose love is infinite.

            But that's not the whole picture. For a long time now, Bible scholars have realized that Isaiah 35 is in some ways a companion piece to the chapter that comes before - and Isaiah 34 paints a much-different view of God. Here are a few of the descriptions there:

"... the Lord is enraged against all the nations... he has doomed them, has given them over for slaughter. The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood... the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of vindication..." How can this be the same God as the one makes the desert rejoice?  No wonder the tradition of the church wants us to read the beautiful encouragement of Isaiah 35 during our Advent services, but steers us clear of the dark and terrible phrases of Isaiah 34. And yet someone whom we believe was serving God's purposes has put Isaiah 34 and Isaiah 35 together in the Bible. How do we reconcile those two visions?

            Some people try to do it by separating out the Bible. They say, "Well, the Old Testament is about a God of vengeance, and the New Testament is about a God of love. I hear that a lot, and I just don't see it - the Old Testament has some of the most loving passages of all - like the 23rd psalm - and the New Testament has long dark, violent passages -like in the Book of Revelations. You just can't separate the Bible that way. Somehow you have to deal with the fact that the vision of Isaiah 34 and of Isaiah 35 go side by side. Both describe the same God. And what's more, both are good news. And both are part of the Advent season, and preparing our lives for the coming of the Messiah.

            To demonstrate that this morning, I want to talk about something ugly - in fact, I can't imagine there is anything much uglier happening to human beings today; I want to talk about human slavery, or, as it is often phrased today - human trafficking.

            Last summer, Sharon and I visited a museum in Goteborg, Sweden, where they were showing one of the most disturbing exhibits I've ever seen; it was called 'Trafficking', and it was about human slavery. We tend to think that slavery is something that was done away with after the Civil War; but the fact is, there are more slaves today than at any other time in human history. Estimates vary between 12 and 27 million, with some 800,000 new slaves every year. Slavery is different now than it was in the early history of America. Then, for example, the African slave trade was legal and in the open. Public auctions were advertised, slaveowners had bills of sale to claim their property, and so on.

            Today, the slave trade is illegal almost everywhere, but all that means is that it is pushed underground, and the people enslaved simply disappear. 87% of them are women and children who are forced into prostitution. Typically, they come from desperate situations and have been promised that they are being taken to places where they are needed for legitimate work as maids or factory workers. When they arrive at their destination, they are thrown into cellars or hidden rooms; they are helpless without knowledge of the language or the culture and without citizenship; many have no clue what country they are in. Resistance is met with beatings, and most are eventually killed.

            And it is big money. One interview filmed in the museum was a young man speaking from the shadows saying that if you want to raise a quick fortune, you have three sure choices: you can sell drugs, you can sell guns, or you can sell people. Selling people is by far the safest and the quickest cash. And now, in the age of the Internet, people can order slaves from anywhere in the world, and if you have the money, your specific order will be filled quickly. The United States is 11^th  on the list of destination countries.

            I know that you and I didn't come to church this morning to hear about this. But that's the problem - we don't want to hear about it. It is ugly, and it is evil. I want to believe that there is good in everybody, and that that's the way God made us. But I have to say that that idea was pushed to the limit as I listened to the cold, hard voice of that young man deciding between selling drugs, guns, or people. We are part of the problem if we deny that that kind of evil exists in the world. And after seeing that exhibit, and reading the stories of some of these women and children, and hearing their voices on tape - I have a different view toward Advent. I hear the words of Isaiah 34 - " ... the Lord is enraged" - " ... the Lord has a sword" - " ... the Lord has a day of vengeance" - and I realize that we need God to judge and to act with great strength against evil. As idealistic as I want to be, humankind will not defeat that kind of evil without divine judgment.

            The mistake we make, I believe, is that we separate judgment from love. We say that either God is loving or God is judging. We say that either there are two separate Gods, or God has mood swings; you can't judge and love at the same time. But I think that God's judgment is absolutely an act of love. It is, most obviously, an act of love toward those victims of evil who are abused as human merchandise to be bought and sold. But here's the other thing - here's where God's judgment is something far greater than human judgment: God's love also extends to the ones who are doing the buying and the selling. Because they are enslaved too, by the inhumanity of what they are doing. This is why we need Isaiah 34, and the promise that a day of judgment will come - to release all of us from the shackles of the sin that enslaves us.

            And once we have absorbed that promise, that God will meet evil head on, then we can embrace Isaiah 35, the second part of that promise - that the desert will rejoice, that the wild beast of evil will be tamed, and that God's children can travel the road in safety, and in everlasting joy. Let me share a story of hope:

            Sister Eugenia Bonetti returned to her native Italy after spending 24 years in ministry for the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya. Her new assignment was among immigrant women, and it was as such that she encountered a young woman named Maria. Maria had been a mother of three in Nigeria, in desperate straits. She agreed to travel to Italy with the promise that she could work to enable her children to survive. Once she arrived in Italy, she was enslaved, and forced into prostitution. She was one of the few who managed to escape, and she told her story to Sister Eugenia - who learned for the first time the extent of human trafficking that was taking place just under the surface of society.

            Maria's story sparked a passion in Eugenia, who began a ministry to escaped slaves of the sex industry. It was often disappointing and tragic work, but thanks to her efforts, there are now 70 different congregations and 250 nuns offering shelter, hotlines, and education to escapees. They have been politically active, and Italy now leads the way in granting legal status to former slaves. 600-800 women a year are now restored to hope.

That is Advent; that is what it can look like when the desert rejoices with the love of God. And for me it really calls into question how I prepare for the birth of Jesus. Because many of the traditions I love, many of the things I love to do this time of year - ­things like decorating and wrapping and shopping and bringing in the tree and Santa Claus and mistletoe and all those Christmas things we do - these things are okay, fun, good things to do. Yet not one of them would stir God to send His Son into this world.

            But the cry of one of those women; the cry of one of those children - just one - and God would pour out His heart, God would send His most beloved into this world, against the darkness, to the brutal suffering and the hard wood of the cross - to answer that cry of one of those enslaved ones, one of those hungry ones, one of those displaced and forgotten ones. And if we want to encounter Jesus, that's where our hearts will be.

            May the ones who live every day in desperate poverty know that the Son of God was born in a stable; may the ones who fear for their lives from violent and ruthless men know that King Herod put a death decree on the baby of Bethlehem; may those whose lives have been displaced and ravaged by war know that the Christ-child was a refugee before he was a toddler; and may all of us, living in this dark and struggling world know Emmanuel - God is with us. A sword has been lifted against the evil that assails us, and thereby the desert may one day blossom, crucifixion will become resurrection, and hope will cover the earth. Let us dedicate ourselves to that great possibility. May one thing you and I do during this Advent season bring this great hope one step closer. O Come, O Come Emmanuel.