5.45pm - Evensong Portsmouth Cathedral, Year C

Isaiah 30:8-21, 2 Corinthians 9

‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength’

Returning and rest

Quietness and trust.

For anyone who knows me vaguely well, these words feel a bit alien personally. I wonder where they sit for you?

As a self-confident, assertive and sometimes confrontational personality type (an Enneagram 8 if anyone is into those sorts of personality profiling theories) these words are often uncomfortable for me.

Returning and rest

Quietness and trust.

In fact, during theological college, a kind friend gifted me this. If you can’t see it, it is a crochet rhino. A rhino with a skirt on no less. Meant as a kind gift, I am sure, but something struck me about it. With the rhino gift was this card that read ‘May I introduce you to Stella. Stella loves being who she is, both girl and rhino. Sometimes she finds her rhino nature gets her in trouble and thanks makes her a wee bit sad. But she wouldn’t be herself if it weren’t for that sharp horn and boldness to speak out when things needed saying – and the world would be all the poorer without rhinos in it. So Stella is learning to love herself for who she has been made to be. Hooray for Stella.’

Sometimes we don’t need to be so rhino. Sometimes I don’t need to be so rhino.

I wonder whether this is how the prophet Isaiah felt. A prophet to the kingdoms of Judah and Jerusalem over the span of 4 generations of kings of Judah.

The role of a biblical prophet was to correct the moral and religious abuses of the people, conveying the message of God pointing them back to the way, a better way.

Isaiah spoke of judgement and hope, calling out the corruption and idolatry of his day, pointing his people back to the way, a better way. To rest and quietness.

Isaiah’s message in the Old Testament reading heard this evening tells the rebellious children that they do not need the help of Egypt against Assyrian attack instead they need God. Instead to return and rest in quietness and trust. But quietness and rest seemed utterly counter intuitive in the face of these threats.

And similarly in the reading from the New Testament, Paul tells the Corinthians that they must be ready to give financially to the work of the church in Jerusalem. And in their giving, God would God would supply all their needs. But giving to something without personal gain seemed utterly counter intuitive in the face of the current economic climate.

I wonder, what are our Assyrian armies? What are we being called to give for the gain of others?

What are the threats that make us feel that quietness and trust are utterly counter intuitive? Maybe it is the cost of living crisis, the worry of a loved one, the dismal political landscape of this country…

The prophet is calling his people home. Calling them to return home. To the safety of God who ‘waits to be gracious to you’ and ‘rises up to show you mercy.’

The harsh assertiveness of Isaiah’s prophecy is balanced with grace. Judgement and hope. Fierceness and gentleness.

He speaks from that still centre of having been with God and in God’s presence.

Can the same be said for us? Can the same be said for me? Can my rhino lie down for a while? Can the lion lie down with the lamb?

There is certainly something I am learning here. That those of us who see disaster coming and call Gods people to a new way do so with gentleness. Often when we have faced terror in our own lives we can become a hardened outer shell, pessimistic and cross. But life isn’t always a fight. We don’t always need to be in hypervigilance mode, awaiting the next attack. We need to return home. Home to the safety of being known. To the deep waters of mercy and grace. Bathed in the promise of the faithfulness of God.

We can often find ourselves horrified with our world. Perpetually dismayed at a world where babies die before they are born, children go hungry in famines, wars make women into widows and cancer robs the young of dignity and a future. But we are being called home. Into a place of rest and returning. A place of quietness and trust. Where all these things will be reconciled. Where all is made new.

We are prodigal children returning to our gracious God. Knowing that in God we have all that we need. In God and through God we see Jesus.

St Augustine said ‘Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.’

Our restless, aching, angry hearts, find our rest in God. The God of all grace who is able to provide us with every blessing in abundance, always having enough of everything, so that we will be enriched in every way.

So, come home. Come back again to rest. Come back to quietness. Come back to trust. To God who waits to be gracious to you. To God who rises up to show us mercy. With all that you are.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Amen