One of my friends sometimes says to me, “Jim, you are so pessimistic.”  I don’t like to hear that. I would rather be known as optimistic.  So I respond, “Not pessimistic, just realistic.”

I look at the direction my beloved country is going. A war that has no justification. A negative trade balance that is constantly increasing. A national debt that shows little hope of abating. Global warning too often ignored.

An article in Harper’s Magazine, August, 2005, points out that far from being a much claimed Christian nation, the United States lives in a totally opposite manner from the Christian way. Our motto is Benjamin Franklin’s “God helps those who help themselves” rather than the Biblical command to love and care for our neighbor. The article provides examples and statistics elaborating on the theme.

With all this, I claim to be a realist.  If it also makes me a pessimist, so be it.

But there is more. Like the author of our text today, I am an optimist, a long-term optimist.

Isaiah is speaking to a people in distress, a people who have gravely erred, a people with little hope.  Jerusalem has “served her term.”

Yet, resounding are the familiar words, “Every valley shall be lifted up...The glory of the LORD shall be revealed...He will feed his flock like a shepherd.”  “Comfort, O comfort my people.”

Like other prophets of that era, Isaiah had warned his people of the disaster that would follow from the way they were living. At the same time, his basic trust in God never wavered.  “In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15b) Actually, his trust continued and grew in his community so that one of his followers echoes that trust in our text for today. His words came to life again in a much later prophet, John,  announcing the coming of Jesus. (Luke 3:4-6)

And the words never end. They live today. As we celebrate the coming of the One who fulfills these words, let us hear anew, “Comfort, O comfort my people.”