Advent
November 28, 2016

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10

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. –Isaiah 11:3-5

Fake news seems to be all the rage now as we are learning that some of the information we receive via social media is totally fabricated. Fake news is not new. All we need to do to view fake news is skim through the tabloids that line the wait to checkout in many stores. Social media fake news perhaps carries more weight since it most likely was shared with us by someone we trust. I am cynical of most things on social media. I tire of having to waste my time scrolling past something and determining that it is fake.

Isaiah tells us that the coming descendant of Jesse does not judge by what he sees or hears but by what is right. While I agree with this sentiment, knowing what is right seems to be a judgment point in and of itself. How do we who have vastly differing interpretations of what is right discern a common vision in Christ? Does doing right require us to let go of some cherished parts of our lives? Does it require us to love some people we perceived to be unlovable, not our kind of folks? Does continuing the battles on a few select issues on which we will never agree, trick us into believing we are doing the best we can at doing right?

Calling a moratorium on dealing with the wedge issues of the day makes sense. I fear though that we will just find other issues to take their place. Taking the time to ask God to guide us toward righteousness might be a better place to start. It will involve truly turning our lives over to God and letting God shape our vision.

Prayer: Lord, as we once again await your incarnation, make this a fertile time for the nurturing of our wholeness as you prepare us for renewed discipleship. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.