A Green Shoot from Jesse’s Stump
11 1-5 A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump,
from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
will be all his joy and delight.
He won’t judge by appearances,
won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.
He’ll judge the needy by what is right,
render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.
Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,
and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.
A Living Knowledge of God
6-9 The wolf will romp with the lamb,
the leopard sleep with the kid.
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough,
and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
their calves and cubs grow up together,
and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens,
the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
on my holy mountain.
The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide.
This is a picture of living in Eden where there is peace and security and care for all of life - people, creatures, the earth itself. Living knowing that we are all in relationship with each other in sacred unity.
It is not the world we live in. At all. From an early age we learn about survival of the fittest and are encouraged to take care of ourselves first. We value individuality, competition, and having a tribal identity.
I look at these verses longing for what is presented. And I know this - I cannot change anyone but myself. I believe that it starts with "knowing God-alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide." The gospel of today is Matthew 3: 1-12 and John the Baptist's words are
3:2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
Repent means to turn back to God - to the way of God. Which is a way of love, compassion, peace and grace. So I begin today at this computer pondering God's love for Margot which may help me to become a person of love, compassion, peace and grace. It is really really easy for me to fall into judgment, cynicism, despair, self protection, self righteousness. You get the picture.
To begin a day with the promise of what God wants for us helps to reorient my thinking and my actions to be more loving and giving and open. Brian McClaren in his book writes that when people say "I'm spiritual, what they mean, I think, is simple, "I'm seeking aliveness." He writes
"What we all want is pretty simple, really,
We want to be alive. To feel alive. Not just to exist but to thrive, to live out loud, walk tall, breathe free. "
And I believe that aliveness is found in having the courage to love the unloveable (even when it is ourselves) and to be willing to connect to all of life. Where I end up this morning is remembering the promise of Advent that life can be better and I can be part of making it better.
May it be so.
Here is a prayer by Ted Loder who says it better than me.
uide Me Into An Unclinched Moment
Gentle me,
Holy One,
into an unclinched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go
of heavy expectancies,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties,
that, softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery,
I may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy
that is you.
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