Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Advent 1
Is.2:
Advent could be a difficult season, especially its end time is the beginning early weeks and our collision with a culture that started the Christmas season already in early November. One way to forestall complaints about Advent hymns could be to use the peace hope in this reading into a Christmas Song.

First  we have the close use of this one in Micah 4, or its opposite in Joel 3 .Zech. 8 extends  it.
2) The temple will be a lodestar, as well as the portal of the divine presence. All will be drawn like a magnet to it. Advent points the way, like the finger of the Baptist in art, to the Christ. It marks a turn from the trampling of temple and justice in chapter 1.

3) Torah is usually translated as law, but here it has the sense of teaching/instruction. It helps stifle the urge to make Judaism a legalistic faith. This is the antithesis of the troubles in chapter 1.

4) Of course, peace is the hope here. We point toward non-violent ways of dealing with disputes. The resources and the implements of war will be tamed and useful for life, not death. We will have no need of War Colleges.

5) v. 5 knows that hope becomes reality when we act in its light.

6) I may be wrong but here I find temple worship as instruction on how to live in the world around Mt. Zion. Worship prepares us for the work in the world for peace. In a time when worship gets downplayed, except for seeking a novelty, the temple material is a clarion call toward public worship.


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