Isaiah 35:6 (Year B, Proper 18; 14 Pentecost)

Isaiah 35, today's appointed lesson, is a vision of our final redemption by God, which will include waters breaking forth in the wilderness and "streams in the desert." Pretty powerful imagery, no?

I've had occasion to visit the biblical wilderness, and I can tell you that Isaiah's imagery here is all about refreshment and relief. In the heat of the day, as one's desert-hike draws to close, all one can think about is finding a cold, wet shower! Hitting the shower (I'm thinking of one in particular at St. Catherine's Monastery) refreshes body, mind, and spirit. God's final redemption will entail all these dimensions, so they're all important here and now.

Christian faithfulness in the workaday world certainly involves showing real concern for issues of public health and physical wellbeing, nature, the body, and so forth...