Advent 1

Advent 1: Nov. 27, 2016

St. Peter’s, Great Falls

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Lectionary 

Listen to a portion of our first reading today:

excerpt Isaiah

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
…
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!

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Our second reading invites us to “wake from our sleep” – to be alert to God’s work around us
and the Gospel urges us to prepared for the “Son of man coming at an unexpected hour”

4 Sundays hearing from Isaiah:

What I plan to do for the next 4 weeks is to prepare for Christmas through Advent by listening to the prophet Isaiah.
This week: Mountain of the Lord, swords into plowshares
Next week: a shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse
3rd week: make straight a highway
4th week: sign of Immanuel

Why Prophets as a theme for Advent?

The primary reason to focus on the prophets – Isaiah in this case – is that we may be able to hear God speaking to us in a fresh way, a voice we don’t usually listen to. Furthermore, I believe that we live in prophetic times – even apocalyptic times.
The characteristics of the biblical prophets include these:
many varieties of prophets
did more than just “preach”
they communicated God’s message for the people. They were an intermediary between God and God’s people.
their actions were often as powerful as the words (n.b. the opening of our reading today: “The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.“
there were 100’s of prophets – most of whom don’t have a name
there were women as well as men
they were in the center of the politics of their day
the writings that we have preserved in our text today are often in the form of poetry

A prophet is for most Christians:

Incontrast, I think that most Christians hear the prophets primarily as someone who tells the future. What the old testament calls a soothsayer and that the telling of the future is primarily focused on fore-telling the coming of Christ.
Now it’s not surprising that that would be the most usual way for Christians to hear the prophets because that is the primary way that the New Testament treats “prophecies”.
But if we listen to them on their own terms – not in service to the New Testament – we may be able to hear God speak to us in fresh ways. That is what the prophets did in their own day.

Prophets: “speaking truth to power”

One recent way to describe prophetic speech is to call it speaking truth to power.
This was a phrase that was perhaps coined by the Quakers during the mid-1950s. It was a call for the United States to stand firm against fascism and other forms of totalitarianism;
It is possible that it was coined somewhat earlier by civil rights worker.
Those four little words comprise a powerful expression.
“It is a powerful nonviolent challenge to injustice and unbridled totalitarian forces, often perpetuated by government, sometimes not,” says Judith Sherwin (Attorney at Law, Adjunct Professor, Loyola School of Law). “Sir Thomas More did it at the cost of his life when he spoke truth to power against King Henry VIII; Martin Luther King Jr. did it at the cost of his freedom when he ended up in the Birmingham jail and eventually at the cost of his life.” Huff. Post

Isaiah the prophet in particular

The voice in the book we have today comes from 3 very different circumstances. The first was when the nation was threatened with destruction by the Assyrians – but all that happened was that ½ of it was destroyed. Another voice 150 years – coming from a disciple of the first Isaiah, spoke and wrote at a time when the nation was again threatened, and this time destroyed. for good – at least until 1949. A third voice wrote some 50-150 years later and wrote of a new way of experiencing and knowing God – now as the God of all creation, not just of the Israelites.
Other than the psalms, the most quoted book of OT in the NT is Isaiah. It was primarily used in the context of “fulfillment” – as I have said.

the Mountain of the Lord

In today’s passage we hear about the mountain of the Lord. This is Jerusalem. Mt. Zion. Where the temple stood. The house of God as it were. Isaiah invites us up. I have had experiences like that with mountains, both in Colorado and in Hawai’i. Especially in Hawai’i I experienced them as in some way the special domain of God. Meant to be kept sacred. Meant to be visited with reverence.
Over the centuries the mountain of the Lord has been a metaphor for the hard work needed for advancement in the spiritual life. To ascend the mountain was to encounter God not just in his own place – but to be transformed by the encounter. Moses was encountered on such a mountain. Jesus was transfigured on a mountain. And he preached – at least as Matthew presents it – on a “mountain.”
So in some sense God seems to be saying “it is hard work. Persevere. Be ready. We do not know the hour.”
Be a people of peace.
Be a people of justice
Be a people of mercy
– even as God himself brings you peace and justice and mercy.
And we will listen more next week to what the prophet says to us.