The Humble Path
Scott Sanders launches our Advent series by getting lost in the bush and finding the humble path - at expense of his pride.
Brad Chilcott finds in Isaiah’s song a call to challenge the cultural, global and internal enemies that divide us, as we join in God’s holistic salvation for this world.
Brad Chilcott is a Pastor at Activate Church in Adelaide, and the founder of Welcome to Australia.
Today's reading is Isaiah 12:2-6
I was once the celebrant for a particularly heartbreaking funeral - for a young mother who left behind four children - and after the ceremony a woman approached me to explain why she could be happy on this day. She’d said a certain prayer with the mother at one time in her life and so now she knew that “she was truly at peace - not in that other horrible place.” Her understanding of “salvation” was all about the time following death and the simple words one need say to secure a place in whatever she understood “heaven” to be.
But that day my mind was occupied by what the collective “we” could do to end family violence, the disease of addiction and what it would look like for these four children to have been “saved” from the impact of the choices of the adults in their lives. I wondered how their lives and their well-being may have been different.
We all read what we want to into passages like this one in Isaiah. This is a praise song written for a nation to sing together once their enemies have been destroyed. The words have a poetic beauty, and we have a yearning to be “saved” whether it is from a perceived distance from God, from the uncertainty around what happens when you die, from oppression we may be experiencing or from the pain of our personal circumstances. And so these words become our cry – “surely God is my salvation” – as we express our hopes, fears and then gratitude – “God has done great things” – as we feel like we are able to trust, to stand, to have overcome.
Looking at the life of Jesus, I see an anticipation of the deeper enemies that will be defeated and give cause for praise. Cultural enemies like materialism, bigotry and exclusion. Globally systemic enemies like violence, poverty, inequality, greed, colonialism and patriarchy. Personal enemies like insecurity, pride, selfish ambition and unforgiveness.
As I read this passage in Isaiah my heart yearns for the now-but-not-yet certainty that we will thank God together as these enemies fall one by one – in our lives, churches, communities and world.
This Advent, as we come together, let us be a part of the salvation God is working in our world, as we partner with God in setting the world to right.
2 See, God has come to save me.
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
The Lord God is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.”
3 With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation!
4 In that wonderful day you will sing:
“Thank the Lord! Praise his name!
Tell the nations what he has done.
Let them know how mighty he is!
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.
Make known his praise around the world.
6 Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy!
For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”
Scott Sanders launches our Advent series by getting lost in the bush and finding the humble path - at expense of his pride.
For Rachael Friebel there is always hope, even in the midst of fear and despair.
Charlene Delos Santos gets a reality check about racism in Australia, but sees the possibility for kingdom-centred change in all of us - just maybe not the way we expect.
In Zechariah’s silence, Michelle Farrall finds the strength to confront her own fears. Albeit reluctantly.
Dr Meredith Lake looks back at our history, the good and the bad, and asks how fear drives our engagement in the world today.
“Fear causes people to hold tightly to what we have”. On day 6 of Advent, Grace Lung reflects on letting go of fear and embracing trust.
For Mary-Anne Maio’s family, this year was marked by unprecedented fear. Yet, through it all she found strength in Christ and her community.
Songs full of ache, promise and encouragement. Rev Christine Redwood reflects on these different songs in her search for justice and healing.
Father Shenouda Mansour teaches us to pray impossible prayers, knowing that no prayer goes unheard – though it may be answered unexpectedly.
As storms brew on global horizons, Sherwin Titus finds in Jesus the peacemaker we so desperately seek.
Fear that motivates and fear that paralyses. Stephen O’Doherty breaks down how perfect love is the antidote to these conditions.
Disruption, drought and dodgy knees. Elizabeth Stone reminds us of the long tradition of changemakers we belong to.
Brad Chilcott finds in Isaiah’s song a call to challenge the cultural, global and internal enemies that divide us, as we join in God’s holistic salvation for this world.
Ross Piper, CEO of Christian Super, reclaims the joy and truth of abundant generosity.
Liz Milani validates Mary’s fear, and learns from her example how we might navigate our own fear and uncertainty, without yielding to it.
When confronted with the reality of our climate crisis, Jason John urges us that our response needs to be faith in action, not helpless fear.
Pastor Ray Minniecon explores the disruption of Joseph as he learns of Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus, and considers his options.
Brooke Prentis reflects on the highs and lows of the year that’s been, and calls us deeper into friendship marked by courage, not fear.
Rev Charissa Suli loves a good Christmas tune, but invites us to sing anew the deeper songs of hope in a broken world.
Hwvar Khoshnow acknowledges the heavy weight of fear, and lightness of hope in the promise of its passing.
Conspiracy, prophecy, promise, danger, hope and joy. David Barrow reflects on Mary's revolutionary song.
Josh Dowton celebrates how being significantly insignificant can (and did) change everything.
Stevie Wills was strangled by the umbilical cord at birth. She shares her journey of connecting with her living and letting go of the fear of death.
On Christmas Day and the final post in our Advent series, Natalie Williams searches for a new spirituality of waiting.
This series has been produced by Common Grace,
with support from Christian Super.