Advent 1
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
... nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
-- Isaiah 2:4
The reading for the first Sunday in Advent lifts up the theme of peace. The dream of peace envisioned by Isaiah came as a response to what God would do. It did not begin with either a military victory or with a better proposal for peace. It began with the revelation of God's way. Peace would only come, suggested Isaiah, when the nations learned the way of God. In the meantime, as the world yearned for a peace that did not exist, Isaiah urged the people of faith to take those first steps toward peace. "Come," he said, "let us walk in the light of the Lord." When we seek personal peace, it is not the discovery of a new philosophy to conquer our anxiety but first a decision to respond to what God has already done. In many ways, our own lives reflect the very tensions and battles that beset our nations. Our world has tried to make peace by learning war and by converting the instruments of creativity into instruments of destruction. Look at the way that we try to handle domestic tension. We try to develop the better argument or exert our power over our competition. The very energies that should be directed toward nurturing love and creativity become the instruments by which we try to dominate each other. It is not that protecting the borders of our lives is unimportant, but our real security lies at the center of our lives. If you knew that your life had integrity and that your ultimate security was assured, could you not feel a greater sense of peace in yourself that could then flow out toward others? What if God has already provided the means of peace within your family or church and what was needed was your response of peace? How do you convert the weapons that you have been using into instruments of peace?
-- Isaiah 2:4
The reading for the first Sunday in Advent lifts up the theme of peace. The dream of peace envisioned by Isaiah came as a response to what God would do. It did not begin with either a military victory or with a better proposal for peace. It began with the revelation of God's way. Peace would only come, suggested Isaiah, when the nations learned the way of God. In the meantime, as the world yearned for a peace that did not exist, Isaiah urged the people of faith to take those first steps toward peace. "Come," he said, "let us walk in the light of the Lord." When we seek personal peace, it is not the discovery of a new philosophy to conquer our anxiety but first a decision to respond to what God has already done. In many ways, our own lives reflect the very tensions and battles that beset our nations. Our world has tried to make peace by learning war and by converting the instruments of creativity into instruments of destruction. Look at the way that we try to handle domestic tension. We try to develop the better argument or exert our power over our competition. The very energies that should be directed toward nurturing love and creativity become the instruments by which we try to dominate each other. It is not that protecting the borders of our lives is unimportant, but our real security lies at the center of our lives. If you knew that your life had integrity and that your ultimate security was assured, could you not feel a greater sense of peace in yourself that could then flow out toward others? What if God has already provided the means of peace within your family or church and what was needed was your response of peace? How do you convert the weapons that you have been using into instruments of peace?
