Come one and all

James Cathcart October 06, 2023 3 1

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Isaiah 55: 1-5 (NRSVA)

1

Ho, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.

2 

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.

3 

Incline your ear, and come to me;
    listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    my steadfast, sure love for David.

4 

See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
    a leader and commander for the peoples.

5 

See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
    and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has glorified you.

Storms with their sudden and unpredictable effects can wreak havoc on homes, livelihoods and all the wider infrastructure of modern life. Even in our high tech age they can fill us with dread with their horrifying reminder that everything could be swept away.

To all in despair, who are fearful, who are thirsty, who long to find a new home, God says: “Come, there is enough, we’ll make room.” Isaiah gives us a beautiful, millennia old picture, but it raises a question:

Why isn’t this message of welcome and equality running through the Blackpool-Rock of our society?

Why haven’t we encoded this generosity in all our algorithms? Or in the concentric rings of the wood that makes our furniture?

Why isn’t this a barcode scannable in every aisle and each shelf?

Why isn’t this openheartedness the recognisable watermark on all our paper?

Perhaps because it’s so hard to start from an assumption of abundance, of there really being enough for everyone. It’s all too easy to remember the devastating storms and be tempted to hoard and stockpile. It’s easier, more sensible seeming, to start from a premise of scarcity than abundance.

But what if, there is enough? Enough for all of us if we saw storms as things that can drive us together rather that drive us apart.

What if these ancient words caught a hold of something a few thousand years ago that we are failing to grasp now? That at base, at the foundation, should be that the sole requirement for food is hunger and the sole requirement for water be thirst.

PRAYER:

Lord in Heaven,

May your vision of Enough

be enough to transform us

enough to guide us through the storm

enough to save us.

Amen.