Sunday Stretch: Vol. 67

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Hi Readers,

Greetings from the midst of the warmest winter ever here in Minnesota. It’s really strange and even a bit scary, considering global warming, to look out my back window and see brown grass and black dirt without any snow covering in the middle of winter.

Speaking of climate change, I really recommend

Bill McKibben

’s Substack for a comprehensive look at the latest climate news, movements, and reasons for hope.

On one hand, the last few weeks and months have been an unsettling time, with ongoing war and tragedy in Ukraine and the Holy Land, the rising threat of authoritarianism in America, the bleak landscape and increasing homogenization of American media - and closer to home - sports-related injuries for my kids. On the other hand, this New Year has also brought Holy Spirit-inspired gifts, as I continue writing and research for my new book, continue to connect with other writers, pastors, and people from all across America to stand against the scourge of Christian Nationalism, and as I continue to see the unheralded but essential work of the local church continue on, against all odds. (Speaking of the local church, this morning I’ll be with the good folks of Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church to share a forum on Christian Nationalism).

What about you? How are you navigating these unsettling and anxiety-provoking times? What is bringing you hope and reassurance? Please do share below in the comments: it will remind me when I used to teach weekly Bible study in my former congregation, and we always started with highs and lows.

I also want to invite you to really spend time dwelling in the texts this week, particularly our first reading. It’s one of my all-time favorites (I know, I know, I say that a lot!) and reading it always feels like taking a deep breath.

Let’s get to the texts …

Bible Stories

Isaiah 40:21-31

Is. 40:21    Have you not known? Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to live in;

²³ who brings princes to naught,

and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Is. 40:24    Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows upon them, and they wither,

and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

Is. 40:25    To whom then will you compare me,

or who is my equal? says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:

Who created these?

He who brings out their host and numbers them,

calling them all by name;

because he is great in strength,

mighty in power,

not one is missing.

Is. 40:27    Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD,

and my right is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹ He gives power to the faint,

and strengthens the powerless.

³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary,

and the young will fall exhausted;

³¹ but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

Oh my goodness. What a gift this passage is. One of my absolute central truth texts of the entire Bible. I do so much reading every single day that sometimes I tend to run past words and skip through things; I’m accustomed to skimming and reading for gist and not always for details. But Isaiah always makes me stop. The questions are central to my very existence and identity: