If Only...

He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

~Isaiah 2. 1-5

These words appointed for the Daily Office lectionary today from the beginning of Isaiah contrast mightily with the words our devotion from CCCA reflects on today. The reflection on Isaiah 13. 6 - 16 begins with the imperative "Wail," continuing with the description of the destruction of Babylon with words that could be describing Gaza today. It is accompanied by a picture of the temple of Jerusalem on fire. And so we wail today for the state of the world.

Isaiah warned the world; if we had only learned God's ways and walked in God's paths.

On our Advent journey this season, may we envision a world where God's peace and justice reign, and ask ourselves how we can be instruments of God's peace in the world? What else can we do besides wail when the pictures of mother and child look like this? I hesitate to post this picture, but we cannot walk the way of God's peace and justice if we turn a blind eye to these truths. And so I wail.