Sunday December 6

Scripture

In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
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 instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
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.

-Isaiah 2

Hymn - There's a Voice in the Wilderness Crying

There’s a voice in the wilderness crying,
a call from the ways untrod:
prepare in the desert a highway,
a highway for our God!
The valleys shall be exalted,
the lofty hills brought low;
make straight all the crooked places
where the Lord our God may go!

Meditation

The prophet’s long account, with its many visions of a renewed world, starts off with this description of an at-last peaceful world order, with all nations and peoples oriented to God. He dreams -like people in all ages- of an end to the wars that have plagued peoples for millenia, and suggests that the only true source of human unity and peace is in God, and is rooted in God’s Word. As we wait for the incarnation of God the Word, we continue to pray for peace for the whole world.