Come, Let Us Walk in the Light of the Lord

Read Together
Genesis 3:14-19 & Isaiah 2:2-5

Light one candle and say together
Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
(from Isaiah 2:5)

Reflection

Kids know all about waiting for Christmas. If you're not a child, you probably remember how hard it was to wait for December 25th. Christmas holds so much promise of joy and wonder and merriment that it can be hard to wait. 

Waiting for something that will be wonderful can bring feelings of excitement and encourage us to prepare. That's what Advent is supposed to be about. But, it is true that we can also wait for things that we're not looking forward to. That kind of waiting leaves us fearful and anxious. And, we can wait for things that we don't really care about. When we wait for those things, it can be easy to ignore and put off the work that needs to be done to prepare for what we're waiting for.  

As people who have heard the Christmas story before (maybe many times,) Advent can sometimes be hard to care about. There are so many competing pressures during this season, so many things to be anxious about or excited about that preparing for Jesus can possibly feel like an afterthought. Maybe it’s a nice-to-have but not a need-to-have. 

Today we read about some of the consequences of Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden. The consequences of sin are felt all around us, from the pain we see and feel to power imbalances to exhaustion. Some of it is directly caused by our sin, but we also live in the ripple effects of the sin of others, whether that sin happened today or generations past. But, in the judgement from God in Genesis, we also see the beginnings of a promise. There will be an offspring, a child, that will battle the sin in our world.  

In the second passage today from Isaiah, we see a glimpse of what we can expect after that battle has been won. "The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation nor train for war anymore." The image we get is not just a world of peace, but one where instruments of war and destruction are turned into farm equipment for cultivating, growing, and feeding. We will no longer toil to exhaustion just to provide for ourselves. 

Where do we fit today, on this second day of Advent?  The consequences of sin from Adam and Eve and beyond are still realities for us. We are still exhausted. We still work hard and struggle to get ahead. We still experience selfishness and power imbalances and pain. And yet, that offspring came and defeated the power of sin. (That offspring, if you haven't already made the connection, is Jesus). That means those consequences no longer have to hold such power over us! We can look ahead to the promise found in the prophecy from Isaiah. And that is something to look forward to. It is something to get excited about. And it is something to prepare for. 

Being between these two realities means that we can actively step into the second. We can do our part to turn instruments of discord and destruction into things that nourish others and bring life. We can work towards bringing peace. Because that is the world that God has been actively working at bringing into existence since the moment the peace was broken in the Garden. And it is the work that Jesus continues to do for us. This Advent, we're invited to look forward to a world without pain and exhaustion and power imbalances and selfishness. And we're invited to do the work to bring that peace and love and care for our neighbours.

Talk About

  • How can you and your household work to bring peace to your community as part of your preparations for Christmas? Maybe you will choose to actively nourish others. Maybe you will choose to do something for someone else that you may normally do for yourself this season. Or, perhaps you'd prefer to actively change a habit that has been causing discord and choose to do something that brings peace and unity instead.

Pray Together
Lord, we pray for peace in our community. We pray for peace in our city and the world that we know. May there be peace within the walls of our home. Let us be agents of peace as we wish peace to our friends and family. For your sake, Lord, we will seek to bring peace. 
Amen. 

Put it in Action
Help everyone in your family choose an age-appropriate way to show love to someone in your family as well as someone in your community this season.

More information about our Advent Prayer Challenge can be found here.