Pastor Bouchard: “and then the rivers will not drown you” (Isaiah 43). From the vigil in Modena
Reflections on Isaiah 43 of waldensian shepherd Daniele Bouchard* in Veglia ecumenica di preghiera per il superamento dell’omotransbifobia tenuta nella Parrocchia di Gesù Redentore di Modena, presieduta dal vescovo Erio Castellucci e dal pastore Daniele Bouchard il 21 maggio 2026
Il Signore, il nostro Creatore, si rivolge a ciascuno, a ciascuna, a ciascunǝ di noi e ci chiama col nostro nome, quello vero, quello nel quale ci riconosciamo, che sentiamo nostro e che Dio conosce e rispetta.
The Lord uses our name to call us to establish or re-establish a dialogue with him. God listens to us (there is no dialogue without listening) but he also has something to say, he has a very strong message, he says "Do not fear”, io ti ho liberato.
Others have spoken to you about me as someone who excludes, who judges, who only accepts those who conform to a certain norm. “Do not fear", I am not like that, I welcome you and reinstate you. It is a word that is normally translated in many ways, I have freed you and redeemed you, but it also has other meanings, including that of reinstatement.
In the double Sense. i reintegrate the different parts of you, which are split and divided, which struggle to relate to each other, to accept each Other. and in the external sense: i reintegrate you into social relationships, i give you a new chance to accept and be accepted, to relate and enter into relationships with individual people, with the community, to have your role in society.
While you face hostility – says the Lord – I am with you. The refusal of recognition towards you, the marginalization you have suffered, the loneliness you find yourself experiencing, will not overwhelm you. Violence, discrimination, pain will not consume you.
Being called by name means being seen and recognized, being important in one's uniqueness, included in a relationship, valued as a person who has a contribution to make to the relationship, both with God and with others.
And then the rivers will not submerge us because we will walk with our heads held high and the waves will not cover us, because we swim with conviction, because God has called us by name. Fire will not consume us because the value that the relationship with God gives to our existence cannot be burned, cannot be erased, it is indestructible like everything that God does.
These words of the prophet are the announcement of something that already happens and is already true, in which we can already live, and at the same time they are a promise of a reality that today we experience as a flash, at certain moments and to a certain extent, intermittently, and tomorrow will instead reign unchallenged.
So let's enjoy this promise and await its fulfillment.
