Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
—Isaiah 40.1-3
The promise of God comes to exiles and refugees:
from regimes that haunt you, whatever walls you in
or out, from gangs patrolling your heart,
you shall be released.
Through the impassable you are given a way
to a place of belonging.
Your passage to freedom has been prepared.
The Companion is ready now.
A tender hand reaches out to you
to accompany you on the way toward wholeness,
through the desert, the wild places,
through strange and difficult places,
a wilderness way across borders, under fences.
The path of healing is also the path of pain.
The journey will be dangerous, on the run.
You will depend on strangers. Carry water.
Share mercy with the others on the secret road
through the desert. You will find sanctuary.
Sister, listen to the gentle Word: O comfort…
Take the hand, and begin.
December 3, 2014