God’s Urban Renewal Program
An Advent sermon by Brent J. Eelman
Abington Presbyterian Church
December 11, 2005

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

    The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; ²to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³to provide for those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
    4 They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
    ⁸For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. ⁹Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.
    10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.     ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. *  

A number of years ago, I bought the car that I always dreamed about: a 1973 MGB roadster. There was only one problem: it was a mess! It needed to be completely rebuilt: not just the drive train, everything! The body was completely rusted through and so I began an 18 month project rebuilding that little car. It involved cutting the body in half, rebuilding it section by section, welding, sanding, priming and painting. The interior was also worn out so I reupholstered the seats and re-carpeted the floors. It was a major project. There were times when I was discouraged, but what kept me going was a vision that I had of it being completed and driving it with the top down on a beautiful sunny day. I remember when it was just about finished and I hooked up the battery and started it up and it worked! But then I tried the windshield wipers and the horn sounded. I had to spend another week tracing wires and rewiring parts of it so that the wipers and the horn would work independent of each other. Many times in the midst of that project, as I was cutting rust away or fixing the upholstery, I kept wondering: how could someone let this gorgeous car get this bad. Twenty years of misuse certainly took its toll and it was a major restoration project.

I

That was the closest comparison that I could think of as I read the first four verses of Isaiah 61. This section of Isaiah was addressed to the Hebrew people who were returning from captivity. They were coming home to the land that they had not seen in two generations. They were returning to their capital city Jerusalem. I am sure that they had images of what it would look like. If they were born in Babylon, they heard the stories of the beauty of the temple and the palace. And then they finally saw it. Two generations of neglect had taken their toll on the city of Jerusalem. Two generations of decay had overcome the temple and it was in ruins. The holy city, Jerusalem, was falling apart, not unlike my dream car that I first wheeled into the garage. Jerusalem was in need of a major restoration. That is why the words of the prophet Isaiah are so positive and uplifting. They are good news! The prophet was realistic about their situation. Things were bad. But he was also hopeful, and so he could say with confidence: They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. They shall repair the ruined cities. This is the major urban renewal project that God takes on: the restoration of that which was allowed to decay and fall into ruins.

II

Advent is a season of hope; genuine realistic hope! It is the time of year when Christians look back at history. Our examination of history reveals not only the promises of God, but their fulfillment and we find strength and hope in those sacred stories. The opening words of the prophet should sing in our ears and echo in our souls: “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news…” That is what this season is all about: good news!

It was what the angels proclaimed to the shepherds in the fields at night. “Behold, I bring your good news….Unto you a child is born.” Good news. It was the message that Jesus preached in his first sermon in Nazareth. “The spirit of the Lord is upon me… he has sent me to bring good news to the poor.” It was what Mary, the mother of Jesus proclaimed in her song. This child that she was carrying in her womb was the fulfillment of God’s promise. This child would not merely bring good news, this child was “good news!” This is the message that we proclaim when we light the Advent candle and call it the Candle of Hope. We proclaim that the one whose advent we await is Good News!

The good news is a message of renewal and restoration. The city will be restored. But the city was a symbol for God’s project of renewal and restoration. The promise of Advent is that renewal and restoration will be total, it is not only our cities that have crumbled because of neglect; it is more radical than that. Earth itself is to be renewed. It is not just our metropolitan areas that have fallen apart, human relationships have crumbled. We bicker and we fight. We disagree and we hurt one another and we do it in the name of righteousness. It is not just our urban areas that are falling apart, the human spirit is hurting, and often it is broken with pain and neglect. The candle of hope that we light is a proclamation of good news. We are reminded that the God we worship is a God who restores and builds: not just the world, not just the cities, but also the broken spirit. Our hope is rekindled in the child, born of Mary, born to rebuild that which is broken, beginning with our relationship with the God.

III

This passage from Isaiah is important to this Christmas season, because it is the foundation for Jesus’ first sermon. We read in the fourth chapter of Luke that Jesus went into the synagogue and pulled out the scroll of Isaiah and read these words: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me….. I am here to proclaim good news to the poor.” After reading this section from Isaiah that we read this morning, Jesus said, “These words have been fulfilled in your hearing.” What an incredible message of hope!

This Advent season finds us with many projects that need to be rebuilt, restored and renewed. We need to bring the prophetic vision of Isaiah to this world that so sorely lacks vision. We need to bring this good news of restoration and hope to this world that is filled with bad news of sorrow and pain. We need to bring a vision of peace where the is war. We need to bring a vision of love where there is hate and indifference. We need to bring a vision of healing where there is pain and illness. We are Advent children: children of the prophet Isaiah, children of God.. We are children of hope and vision.

I remember when I first pushed the MGB into the garage. It was a mess… and yet I was excited because when I looked at that mess of rusty metal, I could see the red roadster that it would someday become. The Hebrew exiles returning to Jerusalem encountered a city that had fallen apart and was a mess of neglect… but Isaiah was there to remind them and share the vision of what it could and would become. And then there is us: encountering the worlds neglect,. It is spiritual, physical, urban, and economic neglect. But we also must face the realities of our shortcomings. The prophet Isaiah, the message of Advent, proclaims to us the good news that our spirits will be renewed, our bodies restored, our cities rebuilt, our world recreated. This is the good news and this is why we sing: “O come, O come Emmanuel… Come and restore Jerusalem. Come and restore our world. Come and remake us. Come and rebuild me.” This is the Good News. Amen.

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org