For my Name's Sake

June Congregationalist
First Congregational Church of Battle Creek
Rev. Emily Joye McGaughy
May 24, 2013
       
For my Name's Sake

There’s a prophetic book in the Hebrew Bible called “Isaiah.” It’s between Song of Solomon and Jeremiah. Many of us are familiar with Isaiah because it’s one of the most popular and most often read texts during the liturgical season of Lent. Christians have been (mis)appropriating texts from Isaiah for a long long time, using it as prophetic proof that Jesus was/is the Messiah. One of the first things we learned in my bible class in seminary was the term “anachronism” which refers to chronological inconsistency. Here’s what that means in plain terms: an anachronistic reading is when we read something out of its original context. For instance, does this sound familiar?: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” You might be thinking, yes, that sounds totally familiar. That’s because we hear it read during our Christmas Eve service and we sing it at the end of our Easter service each year (it’s the Hallelujah Chorus from “The Messiah” by Handel). That passage from Isaiah 9:6 makes its way into two of the biggest Christian holidays which is a tad bit ironic because that passage is either about Hezekiah or Josiah--Israelite Kings who lived about 700 years before Jesus--depending on what biblical scholar you’re reading. 

There are several ethical issues with wiping Jewish history out of our biblical readings. And someday I’d like to devote an entire Congregationalist article to just those. But there’s something else I want to focus on today. And that’s what we miss in scripture when we read out of scripture--again, that is, outside of scripture’s historical context.

I’d never heard anything about the book of Isaiah or heard anything read from Isaiah except those Christianized verses until I got to seminary. But when I took my Intro to Hebrew Bible class with Dr. Kah Jin Jeffrey Kuan (who some of you met when he came to baptize Aurora Lynn last summer), I was invited into think about all the prophetic books, including Isaiah, differently. Not as precursors to Christ, but as books that reveal the God of history in/through history. (Calling biblical history “history” is always kind of tricky because much of it isn’t historically factual, but again, that’s another article for another time) We were asked, as soon-to-be preachers and pastors, to put down the stuff of prediction and prophecy that we’d been conditioned to interpret scripture with and to read the stories as revelations themselves. Revelations about people, families, societies, power structures, politics, religion, etc. I cannot tell you in words how much this different way of approaching scripture impacted me and still impacts me. 


About a year into my time here at FCCBC I began reading Isaiah (chapters 40-55) during my devotional time and began making significant connections between the text and my own life. The core themes of Isaiah have to do with generational struggle and perseverance through exile, captivity, deliverance and return. At that time in my life I was learning more and more about my family of origin, particularly stories about Mid-Western ancestors, dynamics between parents and children, spouses and lovers, the migration to California and the ensuing fall-out between family members. As someone who had just moved (back) to the place of my family of origin, after having been in California all my life, the themes of geographic and cultural familiarity and estrangement in Isaiah rang loud and true in my heart. I felt a kinship with the people of the text. I felt a sense of God’s presence with me as I got deeper and deeper into this biblical history that in some ways mirrored and in other ways challenged my own. But more than anything, I felt like something inside of me fundamentally shifted when it came to my relationship with the Bible.

In putting down the anachronistic way of reading scripture and picking up devotional (seeking the holy, meaningful, instructive parallels between the context of the text and context of my life) reading of scripture, I discovered comfort, presence, correction and healing. "Isaiah" reconciled me to truth about history, truth in the Bible, truth in my own family system and truth in my life. This is as good as it gets when reading the Bible as a progressive Christian. 

I tell you this for several reasons: 1) to let you know that there are mutliple ways of reading the Bible even for us pastors & 2) to share a piece of my own spiritual journey with you & 3) to let you know the "context" for my son's name. Many of you already know that J.R. and I are expecting a child in late Fall. I am thrilled to share this with those of you who haven't heard. We ask for your prayers of love, strength, faith and support to be with our family. What better scriptural theology than this when it comes to welcoming a new life onto this Earth?: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the water, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am The Lord your God, the Holy One..." (Isaiah 43:1b-3a) Amen. 
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