Advent Devotion, 11/29/22
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.it.
Today is the third day of the Advent season. The word Advent means “coming.” For the next 26 days, we remember that the people of God were waiting in darkness for God’s deliverance. We also remember that we are still waiting for Christ’s return when all will be made right and all things will be made new.
“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
Even though Christ came as a baby to save the world we are still a waiting people. During Advent, we acknowledge that there is still much to do as we prepare for Christ to come again. We are called to cultivate peace and prepare the way until the work of Jesus is finished, when all violence and war shall cease.
So we light candles in the darkness. We love our neighbor, show kindness to each other and strive for justice and mercy in a world that always seems to be at war with itself.
Join us this Advent as we prepare our hearts and cry, “Come Lord Jesus, come!”
REFLECT
Beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks is work! We are not called to sit idly by as we wait. What kind of work is God calling you to this Advent season? How might you bring a sense of peace into someones strife?
PRAY
O God, grant me your sense of timing.
In this season of short days and long nights,
of gray and white and cold,
teach me the lessons of beginnings:
that such waitings and endings
may be a starting place,
a planting of seeds
which bring to birth
what is ready to be born-
something right and just and different,
a new song,
a deeper relationship,
a fuller love-
in the fullness of your time.
O God, grant me your sense of timing.
(Ted Loder, Guerrillas of Grace)
ADVENT PLAYLIST SONG
“There Will Be a Day (Isaiah 2),” Caroline Cobb, “A Seed, A Sunrise: Advent to Christmas Songs”
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