Wednesday, December 11, 2024  

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Today's Scripture
Isaiah 11:1–9

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. (NRSV)

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Reflection

I remember how optimistic I was at the beginning of one senior-high English class. The topic? Utopian literature, with a textbook bearing that title. Visions of glorious things, I thought. This will be great! Wrong. Most of our discussions slipped toward the topic of failure. Failed visions, disastrous collective enterprises, naïve attempts at building a better world, cruel exploitations. Optimism gave way to cynicism before we reached the end of the weeks-long class.

I often wonder how it is that pessimism or negativity can so easily come to grip our minds. Is it because we at times lose the capacity to imagine better things?

As a prophet, Isaiah asks us to suspend disbelief, to push cynicism aside, and to allow our imaginations to grasp the vision he paints for us: “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together. and a little child shall lead them.” Impossible, our minds tell us. These things cannot be. But, like Isaiah, the celebration of Advent asks us to bear witness to a different kind of vision. One that is beyond human comprehension.

Many times, on my evening walks home from the office, I have engaged in a visual thought exercise: I imagine one single moment in time when every being on earth is fully at peace and free from suffering. It’s an impossible vision, but as I step along the sidewalk, I picture troubled homes suddenly filled with peace. Chains falling to the ground. Persons being freed from pain. Famine yielding to abundance, and swords becoming plowshares. Lord, if in this moment, we could give life to visions of your peace.

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Prayer
O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem, unto your own and rescue them.
O come, O Key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home.
O come, O Bright and Morning Star, and bring us comfort from afar.
O come, O King of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease and be yourself our King of Peace. Amen.

(Prayer from “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”)

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Reflection written by Sarah Forbes Orwig, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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