Thursday, December 1, 2016

Advent: Pursue Radical Peace

Isaiah 11:1-10
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Lord,
what a radical vision of peace!
Enemies - predators and prey -
find themselves at rest,
at peace,
in harmony with one another.

Lord,
It seems impossible.
It seems improbable.
And if world history is a good teacher,
then you ALONE
are able to bring this kind of peace --
radical peace.

And yet,
you call us to peacemakers saying,
"Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God." Matthew 5:9

And the psalmist writes,
"Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it." Psalm 34:14

Lord today,
help me pursue peace,
make peace,
true peace, Shalom
(not just an absence of open conflict or war).
Amen.

_______
This passage from Isaiah reminds me of a commercial from Travelers Insurance. It is linked below:



https://youtu.be/hmEzQHcASkQ

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