Clarion Call

The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level. Yes, for your way and your judgments, O LORD, we look to you. Your name and your title are the desire of our souls. My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you;

When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world’s inhabitants learn justice. O LORD, you mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done. O LORD, oppressed by your punishment, we cried out in anguish under your chastising. As a woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so were we in your presence, O LORD. We conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth to wind.

Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth. But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise; awake and sing, you who lie in the dust. For your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth. (Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19)

These passages from Isaiah begin with “The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level.”  Not necessarily.  The just often have to travel rough roads with many potholes.

Nothing comes easy for the just because the unjust are many and confrontational.  That’s why we try to follow the LORD’s way and suffer the consequences of seeking justice for those who writhe in pain and lay in the dust.  Many wish to be saved from those who treat them as corpses.

It is up to us to help them rise, awake, and sing.  These are the poor and disenfranchised.  These are the ones living in the shade of racism.  Justice is the clarion call for those who cry out in anguish.  Do we hear the call?

Deacon David Pierce