Reality Check // Isaiah 55

On the path leading from the colleges of Cambridge to the town of Cambridge, England is an old lamp post that says: “Reality Checkpoint.”

We all know what that means. It is a message to the students: don’t think you have been living in reality.

Your world of lattes and leather furniture, your walls that are lined with books, and your days spent in contemplation and study are NOT reality.

Reality is filled with work, dirt, suffering, and sorrow.

The lamppost is meant to be a sign…a sign pointing to reality.

But what if the lamppost is backward?

What if the struggles and toil and dirt and grim of the town are not “reality.”

We all know life is hard. It is broken.

But is that how it “is” or is that simply how it “is” now?

This Sunday we will look at one of the most powerful “signposts” for reality: Isaiah 55.

This is a BC sign pointing to the reality of an AD world.

And we will ask:

– What if generosity is reality and greed is the imposter?

– What if love is reality and lust is the imposter

– What if self-sacrifice is the reality and selfishness is the imposter?

– What if humble faith is the reality and fame is the imposter?

– What if you have it exactly backward? Isaiah 55 is a signpost. It is a pointer to reality. It is one of the most powerful signs in a “BC” world to the reality of what is coming in the “AD” world. It is meant to reorient our life, turn our gaze up and help us remember the future. It points to reality. And invites us to enter into the joy of the new creation. This is “AD” reality.