Building a Peaceable Kingdom

I love the season of Advent! The word “advent” means “coming” or “arrival.”  This season is a gift from the Church to us all.  The early fathers and mothers of the Church believed that celebrating Christmas – celebrating that God loves us so much God stooped down to come among us as one of us in the person of Jesus, born in Bethlehem – required preparation.  They believed we should prepare our hearts and minds to keep the feast of the Incarnation.  And as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior, we would also be preparing ourselves for the promise that Christ will come again.  So, this season of Advent, with its candles counting down the weeks, is a time of preparation for all who follow Jesus.

But what are we to be doing during this Advent season?  We all have plenty of items on our to-do list this time of year, but what are we to be doing spiritually during Advent?  It seems to me that we should be undertaking two practices during this time.  One is an inner practice, and one is an outward practice.

On one of our visits to Jerusalem, Jacqui and I went to a high hilltop which overlooks the old city.  And when we got there, a fog rolled in and obscured all of the holy city and all of its holy sites.  One of the things we should do during Advent is to look internally and roll back those things in our lives that keep us from clearly seeing that the Kingdom of Heaven is here.  We should reflect on our own attitudes which cloud the reality that Christ is in our midst.  We should repent of any hatreds or quick judgments which blind us from seeing Christ in our enemies or political opponents.  We should release grudges and hardened hearts toward people that we can’t stand right now, but who are beloved children of God Almighty.  Advent is the time to lay those attitudes and behaviors aside, so we may fully see that the Kingdom of Heaven is right here in our midst.

Our readings from Isaiah during Advent describe God creating a peaceable kingdom free from violence, threats, and death; where the wolf and lamb lie together. (Isaiah 11:1-10)  What are we to be doing during Advent?  Inwardly, repenting of things within which cloud the truth that God is with us, and outwardly, participating with Christ to build a peaceable kingdom on earth.

What small acts can you and I undertake as followers of Jesus during the current times that will build a peaceable kingdom?  How might we act as a faithful remnant in challenging times?    When we practice radical love, radical grace, and radical forgiveness with one another, we are a shining light in a sometimes-dark world.  Finding graceful ways to call for fairness, equity and justice for the poor and powerless is building a peaceable kingdom.  Reaching across the aisle to listen to people who truly differ from us is how the wolf will lie down with the kid.  

There will be days when we ask ourselves, “What difference do these small acts make in a big world?”  But we are not building the peaceable kingdom alone.  We don’t have the responsibility of figuring it all out and making everything right.  It’s not even our kingdom.  It’s God’s kingdom.  There’s that phrase you sometimes hear about creation care -” think globally, act locally.”  It reminds us to think about the big world and act in our small part of it.  The same is true for the Kingdom of God.  We who follow Jesus are to think heavenly, act locally, and trust that God will do all the rest.  I witness small acts having huge impacts in our churches, diocesan ministries and communities all the time.  I see the Kingdom of Heaven breaking in as faithful people act locally.

So let us this Advent work to remove those inner attitudes that make us blind and deaf to what Christ is doing in our very midst and let us join Christ in the work of building the peaceable kingdom right here.  I wish much peace for you and your family in this Advent season, and abundant joy as we celebrate the Incarnation.

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In Peace,

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The Rt. Rev. Dr. David G. Read,
Bishop of West Texas