Second Sunday of Advent

Peace Ability

Can you imagine a baby playing with a cobra? Or a wolf or lion welcomed by a lamb? What is Isaiah trying to say to us? The prophet Isaiah’s vision is depicted in an artwork entitled The Peaceable Kingdom. Isaiah’s vision was one where dangerous pairings would make peace and together they would grow in safety.

The word “peaceable” and the reality of dangerous pairings give us lots to think about. How are we today engaged in making peace? Where in our world is peace most needed? Isaiah talks about turning swords into plowshares. Peacemakers and artists today create art pieces from automatic weapons of war. Today’s prophets facilitate conversations where people come to the table to enter into dialogue in order to discover common ground. Such conversations attempt to find harmony and unity rather than protracted discord or hate speech or even the now familiar “agreeing to disagree.”

What sort of dangerous pairings are we encountering in life today? What examples of the “lion and the lamb” or the “baby playing with the cobra” are we familiar with?

And so we pray: God of endurance and encouragement, guide us in imagining a peaceable kingdom. Create in us hearts that welcome the stranger, the person or any way of thinking that we don’t yet understand. Help us to grow in our capacity to be able to make peace (peace-able) and to bear “good fruit” in the process.

More of Isaiah’s vision is described in this musical presentation, “On That Holy Mountain.”