Wednesday in the First Week of Advent

Gonna lay down my sword and shield,
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside,
Gonna lay down my sword and shield,
Down by the riverside,
And study war no more...

Remember "Down by the Riverside"? I've been humming this unlikely Advent song all day, since reading today's lesson from Isaiah 2:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established...and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more..."

Isaiah of Jerusalem wrote during a time of national insecurity. The people within Jerusalem were busy fortifying themselves for imminent invasion. In fact, later in today's lesson, Isaiah issues God's invective against the nation's leaders for their overreliance on strategic alliances, the amassing of military hardware and the hoarding of money -- all dead end strategies in the search for security. The people have placed their trust in all the wrong things -- idolizing the false gods of politics, war and economics -- looking for a salvation that can only come from the true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Learning war is easy; learning peace -- that's another story. Using others (be they individuals or nations) for one's own ends is easy; learning to enter into relationships with integrity -- that's another story. Learning to put our trust in the currency of silver and gold is easy; learning dependence upon God -- that's another story.

The Advent Hope is not a hope that can be constructed by human ingenuity. The Day of the Lord comes in God's own time and for God's own ends. Between now and that Day when war ceases to be the subject of choice for humankind, Christians have an opportunity to watch with Isaiah of Jerusalem and the cohort of prophets who have gone before us. As people who live "in the meantime", we can pray in the words of those first follower of the Prophet from Nazareth, "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!"