The first 39 chapters of Isaiah come from the last few years of the Kingdom of Judah before the Babylonian Exile. The people’s beloved king, Uzziah, had just died, and they worried that their nation’s stability and security may have died with him. It was a tumultuous time of social and political transition for the Judeans, to which we can most certainly relate.

Far from being a quaint holdover from dusty old church customaries, it turns out that this feast day captures the very heart of our faith and our hope.