Of the many readings from Isaiah during Advent time, today's chapter 35 is one of the most poetically beautiful. In a time of war, Isaiah foretells the coming restoration and joy of Jerusalem as the kingdom's centre. For us now it's a sign of how the Lord's coming as our Saviour will turn our familiar world upside down, reversing so many values and ideas that we thought were fixed and permanent. That blindness, deafness, lameness, speechlessness would be taken away, that our world and society might really be healed - can we believe and accept this seeming impossibility? Well, it's no more impossible than streams of water springing up in the desert, water-wells appearing in the hard parched land. But when do we see all this? Will it be this Christmastime?

But surely the Lord has already come among us and is now God-with-us. Despite appearances, and our doubts and questions, the power of Christ really is working in our world and all around us, in people, in the goodness of their lives, their love, their courage and service. The power to see and hear has been given us, but we've got to open our own eyes and ears, to recognise Christ going along our roads with us, see what He's doing. Like the people's reaction to Jesus in today's gospel, why aren't we "astounded" and filled with awe, praising God and being able to say each day, "we have seen strange things today".