| The Rev. Catharine Montgomery | 1 Advent |
| Grace Memorial Church | Year A RCL |
| December 2, 2007 |
Paul says, “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep." If you have ever awakened from anesthesia or a very deep sleep, you may remember how disoriented you felt for awhile.
Here are the usual questions…Do you know where you are? What time it is? What day? What month? What year? Did you all pass? Yes? That is good! Being oriented to space and time is necessary for good mental health and for functioning well in this busy world especially as Christmas approaches.
For the next three weeks with the help of the prophet Isaiah and the apostles, Paul and Matthew, we will mark time in a different way. The purpose of Advent is to disorient us – move us into another space and time- alter our perception of reality. I am inviting you to come along and help form a vision for the future.
Twenty-seven hundred years ago, the prophet Isaiah saw the word of the Lord. Already that goes against what eyes and ears usually do. Isaiah had a vision about people of the world moving toward a holy place – a mountain- where they would find the Lord. Use your imaginations and picture this vision with me. People are streaming to a holy mountain from every corner of the earth. They represent every land - every faith. The Lord is there. They are coming for a reason – they finally want the Lord to teach them his ways. Isaiah says they want a new path to follow. They must be sick and tired of being led in wrong directions – sent down blind alleys –coerced into paths of destruction.
All of these nations of people have failed to agree on anything for very long. They make war not love. Their treaties fall apart and everyone thinks they are in the right in the quest for justice. And Isaiah sees that none of this will be settled in law courts or battlefields – the Lord will be the judge – the Lord will decide the outcome – the Lord will be the mediator among the nations.
When this vision for peace finally becomes a reality, Isaiah says something tremendous is going to happen to the people. I want you to form an image in your mind of these people – their arms are loaded with swords, and spears, and weapons of every kind. I wonder if as they approach the mountain, there are furnaces and tremendous noise as all of these people throw their weapons in and blacksmiths beat them into tools that can cultivate the land.
Isaiah must have believed that the vision we hold in our hearts and minds helps to form our reality. For example: I am a golfer and every golfer knows that if you get on the tee and look down the fairway and all you can see are the trees on the right and left, and if you get nervous and think to yourself that you could hook the ball to the left or slice it to the right….eight times out of ten you will do just that. Right?
Try some disorienting visioning with me. I want you to picture a familiar war zone. The streets are filled with rubble. Tanks and armored cars roll down the streets. IED explosives are detonating and killing people. Planes fly overhead. The people’s faces are filled with fear and children crying. What is your gut response to that image? How do you feel? You may want to flip the channel - turn off the TV. Get rid of it! Out of sight – out of mind! Does this vision feel helpless or hopeless?
Now picture a place where all the instruments of war are the only piles of rubble. Picture a land that is productive. Picture a place where people of all nations work side by side. In this peaceful place there is enough for all. In this land of peace children are well-fed and happily playing without fear. The streets are safe and there is contentment on the faces of the people. What is your response to that vision? How does that image make you feel? Could you feel your insides relax and your heart warm up a bit? Is this a vision you would be willing to hold in your heart and mind for Advent?
Paul says it is time for us to wake from sleep. It is time to reorient ourselves to God’s time...for salvation is nearer to us now than ever before.