Isaiah 42.1-9 The servant of God brings justice

I had a hard time sleeping last night. Racing thoughts everywhere. Part of it is due to impending travel. I’m a nervous traveler. I’m fine once I get going.  It’s the preparation time that makes me restless. But that wasn’t what I was thinking about. I was thinking about ridiculous things that serve little purpose.

My brain was stuck for a while in the contemplation of primitive humans back in caveman days. When men went off in hunting parties while women made camps and homesteads creating safe spaces to raise children. Then the men would return, think they owned the place, beat women into submission and force them to serve them until they left on another hunting expedition and then the women’s lives could return to normal.

Then I thought about how this relates to the world today, in relationships where one partner goes off to work, sometimes for days or weeks at a time and then they return home only to find that their home is not functioning in the way they would like it to function so they try to force everything into what works for them without regard to what works for the people who spend more hours in that household than they do. The traveler is a stranger in what they consider “their own home.” An invading party that comes, creates chaos and then departs. Not that dissimilar to the hunting party.

For the record, neither side is necessarily wrong; they are just failing to see the other sides point of view. They are both failing to see that they are only half of a relationship. And, rather than trying to create a world of balance and inclusion, one side forces its opinion on the other through brute force and ignorance. Both sides think the other should see their viewpoint and accept that their view is the correct one.

Which then led to a train of thought on the perils of the world today. Since the dawn of time, power fell to the most brutal. Often, this was the strongest, but not always, a psychopathic maniac with unpredictable murderous behavior patterns could also take power through manipulation rather than physical strength. The common denominator was brutality. This led to a dominant party and a mostly involuntarily submissive party.

I say mostly submissive because the reality is the majority of people don’t want to be in charge. If humans were wolves, almost all of them are content to be betas with no aspirations of being alpha. That’s a good thing. If all we did was fight for dominance all the time, the world would be even worse than it already is. War would be even more prevalent across the globe. We would all die of starvation because no one would forage or farm, they would just live in a world of destruction. Not everyone is a leader and that is a good thing.

Much later in human evolution came democracy. The idea that if instead of the most brutal, we took a survey and did what the majority of the loudest, most obnoxious people wanted to do, that had enough time on their hands by choice or by laziness to campaign for popular vote. So instead of only the most brutal person win, we do what the majority of the most brutal or ambitious people want.

This, of course, only happened when humans started working together, so three like-minded dominant people could subdue one very strong dictator. So, if we please more of the people, everything should be okay, right? This, of course, led to one dominant group and one mostly involuntarily submissive group.

As populations became more civilized, aka fewer people spent the entirety of their day just trying to stay alive, certain people in positions of power with lots of time on their hands noticed that there were suffering people in the world who were not as fortunate as they were. So, they started using their power to give voices to these “minority” and “marginalized” people. While they weren’t permitted to have voices of their own, they had allies who would voice what the ally perceived to be their concerns. A step in the right direction, as they did their best to make more people recognize their favored group of oppressed people.

Over time, largely thanks to technology, not to human kindness or compassion, even fewer people had to spend their lives just trying to survive. The minority and marginalized groups started being able to voice their own concerns using their own voice. While their lives paled drastically in comparison to those in power, more had a roof over their head and while hungry might not be starving to death. Those minority and marginalized people, as it turns out, were not necessarily the concerns the dominant group was voicing for them. While certainly concerned about a lack of food and deplorable living conditions, they were actually more concerned about being treated like human beings than having their basic needs met.

As strange as it may sound, they wanted to fend for themselves. They wanted to be able to work for themselves. They wanted to earn their own living in this world. What they wanted was the opportunity to do so. They wanted to be recognized as having names, and faces, and being living human beings capable and deserving of life. What they wanted, was a threat to the way of life of those who oppressed them by surviving off of their existence.

What they wanted was to have their viewpoint heard. For it to be recognized that they had one. They think therefore they are. And so, they cried out. And so, they were subsequently beaten back into involuntary submission. Crying out may grant you separation but it cannot grant you freedom from your oppressor. Your oppressor will not grant you freedom unless it benefits them. Not seeing your viewpoint and only getting there is far more beneficial than trying to appease you. Appeasing you is a last resort to getting you to comply.

How do we get out of this mindset of not seeing others viewpoints that we have been stuck in since the dawn of early man? We give them a reason they cannot deny.

Laws and even the enforcement of those laws does not make people change. Telling people they have to do something, making them feel like, or at the very least fear being put into, the position they keep you in.

I am a white woman. Relatively small in size and stature. When people hug me, I am immobilized, often forced to have my face buried in their armpit or breast, even more demeaning when men are particularly tall. This simple act of what is likely intended as comfort or a warm greeting quickly devolves into a demeaning demonstration of power and size. Many a time I have had people open doors for me only to expect me to walk under their arm. I am always expected to sit in the back and in the middle. I get bumped into constantly. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you.” I almost got sat on multiple times yesterday while on a group bus trip yesterday.

Crying out will only get you an off-handed insincere apology no matter how many times they step on you. I can only imagine how frustrating these simple things must be for those who are even less than my 5’2” stature. This world of increasingly tall people is not made for me. I am a small person in a big person’s world, not tiny, just small.

Those taller than me fail to see my viewpoint. I can’t deny that it does bring me some joy to see them hit their heads on low hanging doorframes and ceiling fans. Makes me judge them even more wondering if perhaps they just have a ridiculously narrow field of vision that goes neither up nor down. Perhaps its not personal after all.

I have no inclinations of making a world that caters to me despite the danger it imposes to my well-being. One of the largest annoyances for me are car airbags. Something put into a vehicle with the intention of keeping first the driver and now other passengers safe. According to a New York Times article[1], airbags are designed for men of average stature, around 5’9.” Yes, men, not the average height of a human being, the average height of a man, putting even women of average female height, 5’4” at a greater risk. While other parts of a car have been made adjustable so we don’t have to sit on pillows or wear platform shoes to reach the gas pedal, air bags do not adjust to the height of the driver or the driver’s distance from the steering wheel.

Just because women have risen in power, does not make them as equally considered as men. The desire to think only of oneself and see only one’s viewpoint or as in the case of airbags, to design something made for you. Allen K. Breed was, surprise, a white man. While I could not easily find his height, from the looks of him sitting in that office chair, I’d guess about average.

I will not cry out injustice, or lift up my voice on the street. I will speak calmly but steadfast. I will write quietly and not promote it. That is up to those who hear these words and respond. Those who wish to step back into the role of giving a voice to other who are ignored.

I am writing this sermon in a cafeteria while on a group trip with slightly over 20 people. I am nearly always the first one up and about. I grab some coffee, my laptop, and sit down somewhere I deem fairly easily seen, where others can gather around me if they so choose when they arise. The first to come in waved at me when I made eye contact with them and smiled then sat at the table next to me. The next to come in greeted her, they greeted them with a wave and conversation and sat at their table. The third followed suit.

After quite some time, I had finished my coffee and breakfast the third notices me with an “I didn’t see you there! I walked right in and sat down with these two.” I responded “I get that a lot, that’s actually one of the things I’m writing about…” and they went back to their conversation. Maybe it’s just me. Perhaps it is personal. Perhaps it is that they all have friends in this group while I am an entirely online student who struggles to interact in large groups because I get overlooked and talked over when I do try. Or perhaps it is because when I speak my thoughts are generally not in alignment with the group. Could be any number of reasons.

I am bruised but I will not break. My fire may not burn the brightest but it will never go out. I will faithfully bring forth justice as a servant. I will release prisoners, unseen and unrecognized by those who hold them captive. I live in the darkness so my flame must be kept low, burning only dimly. I was chosen by God to calmly use my voice and actions to quietly manipulate the world around me into seeing that which they are blind to. However, while a servant, I serve only one. Me like many others who have come before me, seek no recognition, no fame for those things will likely undermine that which I am called to do.

This world is not made for me but the next one is. My job on this earth is that of a prophet. I know that the Lord delights in me, protects me, shields me from the world. IF this means I am overlooked, that’s okay. If this means I am stepped on, bumped, overlooked, and insincerely apologized to, that’s okay. Unless you cause me significant pain, I will not cry out or lift up my voice or make it heard in the street but one day, God will make you see that which you do not see. The minority, the marginalized, and the oppressed will not come to power, that’s not God’s purpose for them. But they will not be ignored. They will not be beaten down.

They will be given life and recognized by those who wish to keep them in involuntary submission. God will make sure they have no choice but to see the fire of life that burns so brightly in them. Former things will come to pass. New things will be declared and spring forth. I tell you them.

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[1] The Dangers From Air Bags And Ways to Avoid Them – The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/07/garden/the-dangers-from-air-bags-and-ways-to-avoid-them.html