Vision Impossible 120907

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-6

Follow up from last week – 4 words of Advent—hope, peace, joy, love

Peace – wolf/lamb text—photo of tiger and piglets, art work from curriculum

Sometimes impossible things do happen

Bible also says (today’s memory verse) live in harmony with one another

Peace. What an impossible vision. And this biblical image of wolf and lamb is just so far fetched

Yet it’s one of the most often quoted and painted images of scripture

we long for it—in our spirits, in our families, in our city, in our world.

We do long for the day when…invite congregation to finish the sentence (take note)

But how did Isaiah get to this lovely poetic vision? Let’s look at the context.

Remember what a prophet is? One who proclaims God’s word to reclaim God’s people.

God’s people have forgotten who they are; they have not lived in God’s ways, and their world is a mess. Hmmm

Their world is like a tree that has been chopped down and there’s not much hope left for it.

Isaiah proclaims that God isn’t done with them yet; out of the mess, comes hope: like a stray shoot out of the dead stump, in the form of a new king who will have God’s spirit, ruach, of wisdom, and who will rule, and judge, with justice and compassion.

A coming ruler who will not judge by outward appearances, nor by hearsay, but by what’s right and just, especially for the poor.

Someone whose breath, ruach, will use words, not weapons,

to speak up against injustice and against wrong.

Then, and only then, can we get to the wolf and the lamb. Then, and only then, will there be peace. Not peace by means of the later violent apocalyptic end of the world, but nonviolent, visionary peace for all creation. The Peace that is God’s dream.

Of course, Isaiah wasn’t foretelling Jesus; they needed help long before that. But you can see why the first Christians read this text and put Jesus there. Someone with wisdom, compassion and a heart for justice.

And two thousand years later, we do the same.

We love to envision the Jesus who breathes, ruach, upon the disciples with the words ‘Peace be upon you’

We buy Christmas cards that have a baby in a manger and the words, Prince of Peace

But I believe we do God and the Bible a disservice when we leave it in the dead past. Like it’s the dead stump. The first Christians didn’t; why would we -God is continually calling us to interpret it anew for our own day. It is ever new. God is always doing something new.

So I suggest that this text is not just about a soon-coming king, and not just a first century interpretation of Jesus,

but a job description for us, the church, maybe even all of God’s people—Christian, Jew, Muslim

It is OUR job to be the new shoot out of a messy, hopeless world:

to be filled with the spirit, ruach, of God’s wisdom,

to judge not by what we see or hear but by what is right

to let our very breath, ruach, speak for justice and an end to violence

In the romanticism of this season, we love the Peace be upon you Jesus, but we try to ignore the Jesus who spoke judgment as well as peace

"Shame on you" (The Shoemaker’s Gospel p 91)

To get to the lamb and the wolf we need to be infused with god’s wisdom, understand God’s judgement. Don’t tell me it can’t be done (mai mai and their machetes into ploughs last week)

So this year, let’s live into God’s wisdom, compassion and justice, practicing it by asking in every action, every decision, every encounter, will this move us Vision-ward?

Maybe then, and only then, can we get to the wolf and the lamb. Then, and only then, will there be peace. Not peace by means of violence, but nonviolent, visionary peace for all creation. The Peace that is God’s dream.

Maybe then, name some of those longings of congregation

Maybe then, filled with the ruach of God,

what we long for we can imagine,

Peace be upon you. Amen.

Benediction from Romans 15

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement

grant you to live in harmony with one another,

one day at a time, one action at a time,

so that God’s dream might some day,

become a reality,

and so that together we may, with one voice,

glorify God with our lives.

Peace candle lit—candles on chancel rail for prayer time

Vision impossible

Granddad never thought he’d see a horseless carriage

Dad never thought a man on the moon

Me – cyberspace

What do you see as impossible? Personal, community, world

That’s where we’ll focus our prayer time

If you can imagine it, it can happen—it begins with you.