Isaiah 11:1-10
They say it began with Christmas carols. Carols sung across the distance and heard across the fields. Carols that became a chain reaction. Some people swear they heard trumpets and trombones join at some point. And amidst the music, came shouts of Merry Christmas, Fröhe Weihnachten, and the sight of decorated trees. Some thought it was a trick but it wasn’t. It was real and it was true.
Through our scripture today, God gives us a vision of what life can look like when light and peace reign supreme. Justice, equity, and righteousness shape God’s vision where enemies, natural predator and prey, dwell together, eat together, and are guided by a child. Where hurt and destruction will be no more, all ushered in by someone from King David’s lineage on whom the spirit of the Lord rests and fills with wisdom and understanding. Ushered in by, as we traditionally interpret this scripture, Christ. This passage is a Christmas vision of God’s love being birthed and spread across the world, filling the world as much as the water covers the sea. And this powerful, vivid, striking scripture brings with it both comfort and challenge.
Imagine it, a world with no more hurt, no more destruction. A world thoroughly shaped by peace, hope, joy, and love. A world without division, without pain, and without oppression. Layers of feelings come up when I picture it. When we hear or read this scripture from Isaiah, we feel it’s comfort, its hope, and its possibility. Take heart, it tells us, the worst is not all there is, these rough season are not the sum total of your life, the pain you see in the world, it will not last forever. Feel my vision of light and peace in the marrow of your bones, God invites us. Let it soak in and know, believe, that vision is possible for you, for every person, for the whole world.
This vision challenges us because that unending reign of light and peace, needs us. We are a necessary part of the ongoing Christmas story, of God’s ongoing birth in the world. We have a role, God gave us a role, in bringing that reign to life. God creates the possibility of peace but a wolf has to stop chasing and a lamb must trust enough not to run. For the lion and the calf to feed together, the lion has to find the grass more delectable than the calf and the calf must trust that the lion prefers the grass. God has set the stage, created possibilities, offered opportunities, shared strength and direction and then we, have to take the first step of trust, of courage, of change. The reign of light and peace has to start somewhere and God wants it to start with us.
They say the truce began with Christmas carols. It came about not as an edict from above but because the people in the mud, in the trenches, in the cold, just stopped and the actions of those individual people rippled all along the Western Front of WWI in 1914. History calls it the Christmas Truce and it occurred over the course of several days around Christmas in December 1914. But for the English and German soldiers that lived it, it was more than a “truce,” it was a respite, it was love, it was light and peace amidst the blood of battle. Soldiers came together, sharing cigarettes and food, and even playing games of soccer. They say it began with Christmas carols and while the truce did not last, in that moment, this vision of Isaiah, this vision of hope, joy, and love with no hurt or destruction came to life. For those brief, fleeting days, light and peace broke through the iron walls of war. In 1914, approximately 100,000 British and German soldiers participated in this Christmas Truce, and it all began because people decided that Christmas, even in the middle of a war, Christmas would not involve violence and death, not that year. It all began because someone started singing. Someone put a candle up in the trench. Someone began decorating a Christmas tree.
God gives us a vision of peace, hope, love, joy, justice, and righteousness and we have a necessary role to play. For God’s vision to become reality, someone has to take the first step. The first step away from bigotry and towards understanding and love. The first step towards trusting and believing that change is possible. The first step away from toxic cycles. The first step in forgiveness or reconciliation or closing chapters and setting boundaries.
God offers us light and peace and light and peace are meant to rule. While the process of that rule becoming reality is not easy it is good news. Good news for our lives, good news for our city and state, good news in the winter of 1914 that saw Christmas in the trenches, laughter in the mud and cold, and soccer on a battlefield.
So this week, hear the comfort in our scripture. God offers you hope, joy, love, light, and peace and it is possible for those things to fill your life. This week, hear the challenge in our scripture. For our families, for our church, for our city, for our lives, let the first step towards light and peace begin with you.