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Sunday 19th September, Isaiah 45 – the Potters Hands

“I have aroused Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his paths straight; he shall build my city and set my exiles free”

In 2016, when Donald Trump was running for election in the US, a strange thing happened (well, many strange things happened but this is really strange).

Many Christians and Jews began to imagine Mr Trump as a modern-day Cyrus. An unwitting instrument of God.

A remarkable feat of conceit you might think but not as far fetched as it seems. These weren’t just the madcap evangelicals we love to loathe and lampoon Later and elsewhere the then Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu also heavily implied Trump was Cyrus’s spiritual heir, in public and in front of the cameras.

Cyrus the great- a real and well attested historical figure (like Darius and Nebuchadnezzar)

He was not Jewish- but a Persian conqueror King. He did not worship the God of Israel, And yet he is, nevertheless, portrayed in Isaiah as an instrument of God…

In the Bible, he is revealed as an unwitting conduit through which God effects his divine plan for history. Namely rescuing his people from Israel. From bondage and exile by the waters of Babylon and returning them to rebuild Jerusalem and start over again.

This story of exile and return accomplished by God through the hands of his erstwhile enemies is one of that foundational parallels of the Gospel Story that we believe in ourselves.

And like the story of Israel – it speak of a God- who is a mystery to us. Who asks us to defy our circumstances by leaving aside our anxieties and to TRUST and FOLLOW him

This is a God who doesn’t control the world in an obvious way, but whom we certainly cannot control ourselves.

Israel – on the map – was in a bad place to start with

Stuck on the road between the great empire of Egypt in South. And several great empires: The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians in the North.

They felt – and indeed they were – walked over, overlooked, pulled in conflicting directions. Treasured things trampled. Hard done by.

For whatever reason we often feel the same (if not now then I bet you have done at sometime).

Our lives are very often plagued by anxiety – like theirs were.

We feel squeezed by competing loyalties and demands and moved about by great forces beyond our control and much of our efforts in life, in church, in work, and family, are expended in minimising exposure to those things that we fear may undo us.

Much like the people of Israel and Judah in ancient times, we live with anxiety.

In my weekly message this week I spoke a little about this as being the background noise in our minds and lives…

Our wider context – 20 years since 9/11. Economic Crisis. Brexit. Covid.

Our Ecclesial context- falling numbers, failing finances, a church that is sometimes hard to recognise as our own.

And in our personal lives – well, who knows what worries each of us hides behind our brave faces?

In all of this there is much to learn from Isaiah’s treatment of Israel: And we have at least TWO BITS of GOOD NEWS to hear from todays portion, but first let me say this:

The GOOD NEWS is not that all will be well because God is on my team, agrees with me and is going to follow my plan, though. (Sorry Mr Netanyahu and sorry – not that they need it now to those who pinned their faith in President Trump). But the good news is that God is in charge.

Again, I say good news – but I guess that all depends on what we’re after.

If you want a plastic God – one you get to make and manipulate with your own hands or one who you can co-opt to shore up your own foundations and beliefs then, again, this is not good news and this is not the God for you.

But this is good news for people – hopefully us? Who seek a security beyond their current experience.

The God Isaiah reveals is one who, is not made by our hands. But one who asks us to place our lives into his so that we might be MOULDED by Him.

If you ask me, this is a FIRST cause for joy. And this alone should bring us peace. For it is only a God like THIS.

One who works mysteriously but dependably. One who eludes definition but whose Love is unmistakable. One who cannot be manipulated but who cannot be overcome either.

It is only a God like this – says Isaiah – that is worth our worship: Turn to HIM and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For he Is God, and there is no other

On top of this there is one more immediate a selfish reason why THIS KIND of God is GOOD NEWS for you.

And that is this: only THIS KIND of God- one that eludes our manipulation is a real salve for the anxieties which plague us and our age.

Because it is Gods world – we don’t need to be as anxious as we often are.

Because it is Gods Church- we don’t need to act out of anxiety as we often do.

Because we are Gods Children- we can cast our cares on Him who loves us.

I believe very strongly that we are called as a Church to be a non-anxious and reconciling presence in world around us- in work, school, and family.

And I believe too that cathedrals – and their faithful people are particularly called to be non-anxious and reconciling presence in the wider church to which we belong.

It is a High Calling, certainly. And it is only remotely conceivable because it doesn’t depend on us except that, for its carrying out, God has, himself, called out people who would depend on Him. Would that we respond to God’s call today.

Who told this long ago?- asked the prophet Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Saviour; there is no one besides me.

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other. AMEN