December 9, 2007
Second Sunday of Advent
Pastor Harry Mueller
St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church

Martha and I have had a sign in our front yard, for too many years now, that says, “Pray for peace”

When what we thought was the public debate about whether we should enter the war in Iraq the congregations in South Minneapolis sold yard signs, in green color, that had this message. The sign has been there too long in my opinion. It’s been through a lot. Wind, rain, hail, heat, cold, and neighbors who must have disagreed with the thought, thinking it too political, who knocked it down at night. But here we are years later and I look at it every day when I go home. I look especially on Sundays since we have started the prayers for the families each Sunday who have lost a loved one in the war the past week. I try to imagine the grief of families who have lost a loved one in the war as they approach Christmas, Hanukkah, or Ramadan. The lists, as you know, are too long and contain the names of too many people whose names are hard to pronounce.

This week as the snow came down the bottom half of the sign that contains the word peace was covered over. In the snow it said “Pray for……….” And the word “peace” was not visible. So what I did what I shoveled was to dig a visual pathway to the word “peace.” I have been thinking that we need to reveal the way to peace.

I have been thinking about it al lot this week as I’ve given thought to the words of Isaiah this week. Here we have a beautiful idea of animals lying down together, eating together, and generally living peaceable together. These words of Isaiah have been the inspiration of poetry, novels, and paintings. Here we have the Peaceable Kingdom. It is a centuries old view of God for the creation. Animals were living together and eating together, and there was peace in the creation. Isaiah wrote this memorable verse, obviously knowing that in the creation stories humans were supposedly smarter. Humans were to be the caretakers of this kingdom. But are we?

Let me go back in time and attempt to help you understand the setting in which Isaiah wrote this, so that you can understand what a wonderful vision this is and why we must keep it alive.

By the time Isaiah wrote, the people of God had known many years of being trampled over. First they we nobodies. Then they were victimized by Egyptians, and the Philistines. Because of internal squabbling, or as I have liked to say arguments between the north and the south or Yankees and Confederates, or Republicans and Democrats, they became vulnerable to attack and the northern part was trampled by the Assyrians. By the time Isaiah wrote these words of today they had not known much peace. They had known a lot of victimization, being trampled over, and war. Also in the East the sabers were probably rattling and the Babylonian threat, which was replacing the Assyrian was growing.

And Isaiah preached about a peaceable kingdom. In the midst of a violent world, when peace seemed like a distant reality Isaiah preached about this peaceable kingdom. This is a wonderful vision. And if we don’t keep it alive, who will? If we can’t imagine it, who will?

Centuries later, it was John the Baptist, who proclaimed that the end of this victimization was coming. “I baptize you with water, but the one coming after me will baptize with fire. Unquenchable fire. In our text study group this week after reading this “unquenchable fire” idea someone asked how can we say the “good news of the gospel” after reading that? But scholars have been willing to point out that there was a big difference between John’s expectations and Jesus’ reality. John may have hoped for a fiery end to the violence which was coming at the hands of the Romans by his day. But Jesus said this peaceable kingdom will be arrived at through love. It was a radical idea. It was a short-lived revelation.

Peace through non-violence and love was Jesus’ way. Peace through war and conquering others was the Roman way. It had been then Babylonian way, the Assyrian way, and the Egyptian way. It seems to be our way. I ask you my friends, if we, who have been given this vision, don’t keep it alive who will? If we don’t proclaim that peace is arrived at through love and fairness rather than through war and conquering, who will keep it alive? This is our gift. And this is our call. This is a wonderful vision.

When I think about the parallel of the sign in my front yard, this is our call, to plow a visual path for peace. In all that we do. In our personal relationships, community relationships, in our spending, voting, in all that we do, we must plow a path to peace. Make it visible. The peaceable kingdom. What a gift! Trust in its possibility…even when it seems impossible. Proclaim it. If we don’t who will?

Amen