isaiah

The Nobility of Clay| Isaiah 45.9–10

/ Paul Burkhart / Leave a comment

Woe to those who strive with their Maker,
    earthen vessels with the potter!
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?
    or “Your work has no handles”?
Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you fathering?”
    or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”
—Isaiah 45:9–10

Whoa. I’ve always read this as God angrily telling humans to stop defying him, to humble themselves, and submit to his work. Because what lump of clay argues with the potter? But what if God is actually decrying our self-doubt, shame, and self-hatred? What if he is saying something closer to “How dare you think less of yourself than you ought?”

More: Marginalia on Isaiah · Browse all Marginalia · Browse by Bible book

The God Who Hides Himself | Isaiah 45.15

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“Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
    O God of Israel, the Savior.”
—Isaiah 45:15

You truly are a God who hides himself, Lord. But it’s interesting that this statement, which speaks so much to me right now in a mystical, spiritual way, originally seems to have been referring to the mysterious and hidden means by which you save your people. That salvation comes through hidden things and unexpected things and not in the ways we expect, or even want. I really don’t like this, frankly. But it seems your people have had an issue with it well before me. Nevertheless, you sometimes save us in your hiddenness in a way that that would not be as thorough or effective if you were more apparent.

For more on Cyrus and God’s unexpected means of redemption in Isaiah 45, read: The Sweet Taste of Sovereign Suffering.

More: Marginalia on Isaiah · Browse all Marginalia · Browse by Bible book

“Darkest Before the Dawn” [a sermon]

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church-philly-bw-cross-market-eastDuring the Advent and Christmas season, my church did a sermon series going through the key texts of Handel’s Messiah.

I got to preach during that series and only recently realized I never posted it here.

I’m beginning to see that light and darkness are constant themes through my preaching, and in this sermon, those themes are explicitly in the text. God’s people have returned from exile to their homeland, but it still hurts. Things aren’t the way they remembered, and they keep encountering difficulties and old temptations at every turn.

And so God acknowledged the darkness, but promises light. Is that enough, though? How do we not just sit back and say, “yeah, yeah yeah–I’ve heard this all before” and then continue on steeped in our cynicism? In this sermon (as with others I’ve preached), I try to press more deeply into the darkness to see what God might say. The text is Isaiah 60.1-3, and here’s the sermon audio. Feel free to send me any thoughts, questions or concerns:

You can also download it here, or subscribe to our podcast. If reading is more your style, here are my notes for your perusal. Continue reading →

A Sermon I Got to Preach on Isaiah 61 [VIDEO]

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

Believe it or not, I don’t really have much experience at all in preaching. Yeah, I’ve spoken and “preached” at some things, but I’ve still never offered the preached proclamation at a Sunday worship service. It’s an area I’ve wanted to grow in for a while.

To that end, I took a preaching class last semester for my seminary program. It was a powerful course that changed my whole relationship to both the Bible and the act of preaching. Each of us wrote and presented a sermon on an assigned text. The sermons were recorded, and I’m offering mine here today. It opens with some brief words on the context I had in mind when preparing this.

I hope it meets you and speaks to you, wherever you are. The video is above, the text and my manuscript are below. You can also download files for both the audio or the manuscript.

Special thanks also to an old friend, J. Chord Barnes of ASERWorks Media, for fixing some audio issues in the original recording and remastering it for me. Check him out at the link above. Continue reading →