Advent's Call to Isaiah and Dr. King

Lectionary Reflections for the First Sunday of Advent (A)

By Nan Peete

Readings for Advent 1, Year A, Nov. 28, 2004

Isaiah 2:1-5

Psalm 122

Romans 13:11-14

Matthew 24:36-44

One could say “happy new year!” since today issues in a new liturgical calendar year, as well as the new church year. We change today from reading Luke's Gospel to reading the Gospel according to Matthew, and we move from the season after Pentecost to the new season of Advent. That seminal time of reflection of what has come and will come. It is a time of preparation. It is a time of reflection on the past as we look to the future.

Isaiah, that prophet who had the ability to see visions clearly and to look back as he reminds the people of God how God sees their world and their need to change.  

Isaiah who looks out over the terrain and sees how the people have turned away from the God of justice and righteousness. They have become a people who gauge their power in term of guns and military might.   Isaiah sees a time when all of the people of the world will be reconciled one to another and to God.

Isaiah's vision is one that is not too far from Dr. Martin Luther King's vision. From his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, given in Washington, D.C., in 1963, to his final speech, “I Have Been to the Mountaintop,” given in Memphis in 1968, Dr. King echoes the same vision of a world reconciled to one another and to God.  

Yet both Isaiah's and Dr. King's visions are a long way from reality. We live in a world where the arguments are no longer guns or butter, but guns and nuclear proliferation because we cannot afford butter. Instead of turning swords into plowshares we want to turn swords in to more dangerous weapons that can wipe out whole communities.

Yet both Isaiah's and Dr. King's visions are a long way from reality. We live in a world where the arguments are no longer guns or butter, but guns and nuclear proliferation because we cannot afford butter. Instead of turning swords into plowshares we want to turn swords in to more dangerous weapons that can wipe out whole communities. Instead of turning our spears into pruning hooks, we want to turn them into missiles that can destroy churches, schools and hospitals in places we want to control. We live in a time where might determines what is right. We live in a time where the haves do not care about the have-nots; where the trickle-down theory only tricks those who are down.

Where are the voices crying out in the wilderness calling us to repent and return to God? I speak of the God of justice and mercy: the God who calls us to love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with God. One of those voices is the poet who wrote Hymn 607 in the 1982 Episcopal hymnal. This hymn not heard often in our churches – at least I haven't heard it often – but it is a hymn that calls us to the world Isaiah and Dr. King and God envisioned:

O God of every nation, of every race and land,

redeem the whole creation with your almighty hand;

where hate and fear divide us and bitter threats are hurled,

in love and mercy guide us and heal our strife-torn world.

From search for wealth and power and scorn of truth and right,

from trust in bombs that shower destruction through the night,

from pride of race and nation and blindness to your way,

deliver every nation, eternal God we pray!

Lord, strengthen all who labor that we may find release

from fear of rattling saber, from dread of war's increase;

when hope and courage falter, your still small voice be heard;

with faith that none can alter, your servants under gird.

Keep bright in us the vision of days when war shall cease,

when hatred and division give way to love and peace,  

till dawns the morning glorious when truth and justice reign

and Christ shall rule victorious o'er all the world's domain.

This new year, this new season of Advent, calls on all of us to not lose hope, to not give up, and to keep the faith as we work for that just world that Isaiah and Dr. King envisioned. We are the transforming agents in the world, we are the ones called out by God to speak up and speak out. We are the ones who believe in the vulnerable God who came into the world as a babe who needed caring, not as the military general in command and control.

So as we venture in this new year that seems so dark, let us be reminded that sometimes it is only in the dark that we can see clearly the light that the darkness cannot hide: the light of the living incarnate Christ.

The Rev. Canon Nan Arrington Peete is canon for clergy deployment and ordination for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She has served on numerous national and international church commissions, including as a consultant to the 1988 Lambeth Conference, and has provided ministry and leadership in several U.S. dioceses. Nan may be reached by email at npeete@edow.org .