Rivers flow in the wilderness. The vine and the field flourish. Justice is reestablished. And, there is no hurt in all of God s holy mountain for God again tabernacles with his people. Here the visions of contemporary ecological and political prophets don t hold a candle to the wonder evoked by their ancient mentors.
Modern visions are darkly pessimistic.
They are not apocalypses of hope. Trees are commodities of commerce, and the death of a child is the factored cost of waging war. Only the divine presence can create a peaceable kingdom. Without a sense of the sacred at the very center of things, modern-day ecological and political sanctuaries are easy targets for chain saws and political ambitions. Certainly, if we are a sanctuary of divine dwelling in the midst of a troubled world.