Brazen Acts of Beauty

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”  

(Isaiah 43:19, NRSV)  

Centering Prayer

Dear God, we perceive it. Our initial reaction appears to be a tendency to dig in our heels. We are all holding firm to the past in one way or another.  May your wisdom fall upon us, helping us to let go of the things of old. Amen.

Reflection

In this Lenten season, we hear Isaiah whisper God’s promise: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth—do you not perceive it?”  In worship, we learned that Mary seems to be the one who does. While others calculate, question, or cling to what has always been, she steps into the room with a courage that smells like hope.  Her anointing is the new thing—a brazen act of beauty poured out in a world bracing for death, love offered where fear tries to take root. The season of Lent invites us into that same holy audacity: to believe that God is already stirring something new in us, and to respond with similar acts of beauty that break open the old patterns and make space for resurrection to rise.  I encourage you to take a moment and reflect on the image below and then read the artist's statement.

^{Vessel (paper lace) by Hannah Garrity Inspired by Isaiah 43:16-21.}

Artist's Statement

In this text, I see water flowing in the abstract. Patterns of fallen chariot wheels, footprints of the jackal and the ostrich, and imagery of creation give detail to the shape of a vessel amidst the flow. God is doing a new thing!  When I sing hymns, I feel the power and the joy. I feel the beauty and the freedom of God’s new way in this wilderness. Yet, when I live my daily life in the midst of God’s current shifts toward a new thing, it feels rocky, painful, devastating, and infuriating. It is so easy to let fear take over. Isaiah sings of God -- of God doing a new thing. Isaiah helps us to remember, to embrace, to find the positives in the midst of the current drastic changes. Who are we to stand in the way of the flow of the Holy Spirit?  Isaiah reminds us to open our minds to a new way.  -- Hannah Garrity

Pray

Holy One, as we lean into your new way, may we find the songs to sing, as Isaiah did. May we flow on this new path with your Holy Spirit. May we find the hope that allows us to navigate the pain and the jagged devastation of daily life in the midst of change. You are doing a new thing! May we bear witness and join Isaiah in song. Amen.