Come Now, Let Us Argue It Out

Today’s reading is the introduction to and a pronouncement from the first chapter of Isaiah in which God is sending a warning to Judah and Jerusalem. Rev. Brandon Baxter recounts his family’s recent experience seeing three shows on Broadway and how magical and transformative the characters were on stage. But then, after the show, they saw those people out of costume and character backstage and realized that those actors were normal people. He compares that to the prophet, a normal person, taking on the role of speaking God’s words. Then Brandon explores what it means to be a prophet, to stand on a balcony, looking downward to see the complexity of a situation and then delivering a strong summons for God’s people to realize the situation and return to living as God’s people.