I love this one--after the end--we all need to know that after it all  seems to be gone, God throws a huge party and we're the honored guests!  This (Isaiah 25: 6-9) is an Easter text, but also one recommended by the Lutheran liturgy for funerals.

Pastor Kropa

Saturday, April 5, 2008

After the End

Isaiah 25:6-9

Bible Excerpt (NRSV, adapt.)

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And God will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; God will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of the people God will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for God, so that God might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Reflection

by Quinn G. Caldwell

What comes after the end of everything? What is there left after it all falls apart, after circumstance whirls and storms its way through the world, leaving nothing behind but the wreckage of what was? In this passage, Isaiah has just finished describing the doom of the nations, the destruction of all that stands on the face of the earth. The end of the world.

OK. So then what? What does God have planned for after the end, after all hope has gone underground and all chance of salvation has been buried in the rubble? A feast. The God who made the earth the first time will make it again, and this time, it will taste like a party. This time, there will be no shrouds, no tears, no disgrace. This time, there will only be a feast, big enough, wide enough, full enough for everyone. Big enough for you, and me, and everyone we've ever known.

With our God, says Isaiah, no end is final. There is no end without a beginning. No destruction without rebuilding. No death without resurrection. No end of the world without a party to announce its rebirth.

Prayer

God, when my world has fallen apart, when all around me is in shambles, remind me of the greater things you have yet in store, and give me a foretaste of the feast you have laid for us all.

Amen.

About the Author

Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Pastor, Old South Church, Boston, Massachusetts.

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Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, adapted. Used by permission. All rights reserved.