Advent Week 1 Hebrew Bible Reading

The Vanderbilt Lectionary lists readings associated with Advent as part of the Revised Common Lectionary.  As I have been part of a non-denominational evangelical church since junior high, I only barely know what that means.  But I am enjoying learning about Advent this season.

For Week 1, the reading from the Hebrew Bible is Isaiah 64: 1-9

1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!

2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!

3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?

6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.

8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

9 Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.

To me, this is a beautiful mix of exultation and fear of the power of God.  I would love to see the mountains tremble…. though I know that I would be trembling just as much.  And I see a recognition of our sin that has separated us from God… deserving of our fate, accepting.  But still hoping that we can be cleansed, refined.  Made new.  In the spirit of Advent, we are waiting for God to come.