GOD THE ARTIST

Isaiah 58:9-12

There are days when I feel like God is a stranger to me, almost as if God hasn’t quite taken the time to introduce herself.  I wonder what God is up to, especially if God is always creating something, I pause and look around me wondering what in this moment is God creating.  Can God only create beauty out of beauty?  Is God one of those artists that require perfect conditions, like silence, air conditioning and uninterrupted time?  Or can God create something magnificent out of junk, like the stuff that the rest of the world discards, when there isn’t much to work with?

Part of my family here on Cape Cod has been a pair of Osprey that Jeremy and I named Oscar and Penelope.  They have acted like guard dogs for the property overlooking the Bay where we spend at least a part of every single day.  They squawk loudly when we appear, letting us know that we have entered their space and that they would appreciate it if we limited our time in their living room.  We watched, as they meticulously built a nest and if you have seen an Osprey nest you know that they are huge.  But as much as I would like to call their home beautiful, it is actually kind of a mess.  I have imagined sending Oscar and Penelope a bird version of a housekeeper given how unkempt and chaotic their place seems to be.  They let the kids throw their food and toys all over the place and they appear to use the facilities in the same place that they dine.  Their nest includes big sturdy sticks, but it also seems to have some garbage mixed in with shreds of a tarp and who knows what else.  At the end of last summer, their nest was surprisingly removed and Jeremy and I were devastated.  Oscar and Penelope had worked so hard to build their home, they had raised one chick there and we wondered if they would return and if they did, what they would do.

And as I pondered this destruction, I wondered where God would be in this. Can God only create beauty out of beauty?  Is God one of those artists that require perfect conditions, like silence, air conditioning and uninterrupted time?  Or can God create something magnificent out of junk, like the stuff that the rest of the world discards, when there isn’t much to work with?

In our scriptures, there is story after story of God creating, of God renewing and reviving towns and cities, communities and groups of people who without God would have long been forgotten and we hear in this scripture from Isaiah exactly what God is doing.  It feels something like an introduction from long ago, a brief bio of who God is and what God does and how God moves through creation.  The prophet Isaiah tells us that this God, this presence among us longs not just to be among us, but also to be engaged in very particular activities among us.  Isaiah says that God wants our lights to rise in the darkness, that God wants our needs to be satisfied and to quench our parched places.  God wants to make our bones strong and to be like a spring of water in our gardens, but not just any spring, a spring whose waters never fail.  But the part of this introduction to God that makes my soul sing, the part that pulls me closer to this God who often leaves us wondering what in the world he is up to, is the part about God as an artist, a builder, a being who doesn’t just build beauty out of perfection but a God who can take the scraps, who can take the junk pile and the shattered places and make them into something glorious.  Isaiah says that God takes ancient ruins and rebuilds them, God raises up the foundations of many generations, God repairs the breaches and the restores the streets to live in. 

This spring, Jeremy and I waited for Oscar and Penelope to return and sure enough they did.  I bet they grumbled at the thought of having to build their home all over again.  Perhaps they pondered hiring some other Osprey to do it for them.  But without hesitation they went to work rebuilding their nest out of sturdy sticks, a bit of garbage and a few more pieces from a shredded tarp.  I know that God was there, working with them to take the ruins and rebuild them, to raise up the foundations and to repair the breach.  And at least for a moment, I knew just what God was up to.  As much as I want a God who can create something beautiful out of beauty, I love knowing that God is the kind of artist that can make something beautiful out of junk.  Most of us don’t always have a lot of beauty to offer God, the artist, but we need not fear, we need not wonder what God is up to when our lives feel less than beautiful.  God can create something magnificent out of junk, like the stuff that the rest of the world discards, when there isn’t much to work with.  God is an artist, but the kind of artist that can work with anything, the only requirement is that we offer up what we have and let God do the rest.  Amen.