the Ladder

Sunday November 18th, Isaiah 65: I am creating new heavens and a new earth says The Lord; everything of the past will be forgotten. Celebrate and be glad forever! I am creating a New Jerusalem, full of happy people. I will celebrate with Jerusalem and all its people; there will be no more crying or sorrow in that city. In visiting Jerusalem, I was struck with sadness. It is a divided city. Many of the different religious factions can agree. The church of the Holy Sepulcher, where our Lord is supposed to have been crucified, died and risen is held by three churches that have so much trouble getting along that there is ladder on a second floor balcony that has been there for 100 years because the parties cannot agree whose job it is to move it. The keys to the building are held by a Muslim family because none of the three Christian congregations can be trusted to let the others have full access to the building. The situation is worse than the time of Isaiah, worse than the time of Jesus. In the midst of that, the Lord says, I am creating a New Jerusalem full of happy people (a small rewrite by me). In the midst of the conflicts in our lives, the Lord can also do a new thing. Always be open for God’s preferred future, for your life and for the world, and live into it.