Contaminating Well

I am reading “Freedom is Coming” by Nick Baines for Advent, looking with him at some of the things that the prophet Isaiah says to this season.

I was particularly struck by a comment in the suggested reading for last Wednesday. The theme was ‘the longer view' and a phrase from Isaiah 40, verse 4: “every valley shall be lifted up.”

Baines talks about how influence spreads, suggesting that it can be other than we think and expect. He uses the notion of ‘contamination’, normally seen negatively, but asks: “Might it be possible that God is less concerned about being contaminated by pagan uncleanness than he is about contaminating the world with grace and mercy and sacrificial love?”

That’s a really good thought.

We can get caught up in concern about the effect of bad influences in all sorts of ways when, actually, our task is to be an influence for good. Is that not what Jesus meant when he calls us to be salt and light? It does not mean that we should ignore or be unconcerned about all the bad stuff, but there is little point in allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by what we can’t do.

“God’s people are invited – dared, even – to look beyond ‘now’ to a time when what looks unlikely might actually happen, when every valley shall be lifted up and the desert will become fertile and fruitful.”