Isaiah 40 In the Shadow of Ferguson, Staten Island, and ISIS

God promises comfort:
comfort in safe hiding places lifted up,
in high retreats brought low,
in life coming at us like a freeway;
a world of terror, racism, homelessness, poverty.
Where is the comfort?
Where is the joy?

We’re looking for comfort,
comfort that says nothing withers, nothing fades,
that we are always safe,
that everything is better with new stuff.
There in the new stuff, the more stuff, ourselves stuffed, too much stuff,
where is the comfort?
Where is the joy?

In presence is comfort:
presence, not empty trinkets nor empty words
but God’s eternal Word,
God’s-Word-With-Us walking us through our pain,
opening us to honesty, empathy, truths to see,
open to comfort,
open to joy.

God tells us to comfort,
tells us to speak the truth to all those we meet,
to stay and walk them through
and face all the crying and construction
and let them know that they never have to face it alone.
There it is: we change the pattern.
There it is: the highway for God.
We are the comfort.
We are the joy.