Advent
November 29, 2016

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10

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. –Isaiah 11:6-9

Why do we seem hell-bent on devouring one another? The ugly anger that accompanied our recent election campaign still spills over into our daily lives. Why do humans have such a need to put someone else down? Do we feel better about ourselves, if we believe our importance is greater than another’s? Isaiah uses wild and domesticated animals in our scripture today to illustrate the world God desires. We know when raised together in a non-threatening environment with plenty of food available, these natural enemies can live together in harmony. Might that also be true of humans? God apparently created us with that in mind. We were created to live justly with each other. Another type of existence is futile.

During this Advent season, ponder your ideas of justice. It might be fun to write your vision of justice using human behavior in place of the behavior of wild and domesticated animals. What can you do starting now to bring your vision in sync with God’s vision bringing the results to fruition?

Prayer: Lord, open my heart and mind to take on your vision of justice. Make me a doer of your justice. 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.