December 16th - Reflection

Isaiah 11:1-9 (NRSV)
A ruler brings justice and peace
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

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.

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.

Reflection
The passages the past couple of days seem to have been about arguing and fighting and punishment and selfishness. So negative. So much punishment. Yet, we turn today, and hear a passage of hope. Even in the midst of all of our struggles with one another, with nature, with disease, with envy, pride and selfishness; God is sending someone to bring us together again. God is sending someone to make us one with another and someone to lead us to work with those we would least expect to work with. God is sending Hope. God is sending Love. God is sending Salvation. God is sending a Shoot from the stump of Jesse. God is sending Jesus! Thanks be to God!

Into the chaos, God comes, humble, yet God comes!

Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Come, Lord Jesus, come! Come into the midst of my own chaos of selfishness and sin, come into the chaos of this sinful world and save us! Come, Lord Jesus, come! ---Amen