Isaiah 11:1-9
The prophet speaks a word of hope to a desperate people, using the imagery of a shoot emerging from a dead stump.
What amazes me is the contrast of images the prophet offers. First of all, he compares Israel to a dead stump… a tree of promise mowed down. Contrast this with the image of a shoot of new life that shoot will flower into a Peaceable Kingdom, where “the earth of full of the knowledge of the Lord.”
In many ways, the US and the mainline churches are currently experiencing a time of stump-dom. Our numbers, power, influence and wealth have been seriously diminished… our very life seems precarious. The promise that once seemed so palpable has evaporated.
What do our current stumps look like? Feel like?
Here are a couple of photos of a place I passed on the way to worship in Summerville, GA yesterday. This area has experienced a lot of economic contraction, with many of the mills and manufacturing plants closing for good.
Thoughts & Images from the Heart 