“Pilgrim Advent; Swords into Plowshares”

November 27, 2022             Advent 1                  St. Andrew Church                Rev. Anne McAnelly

First Lesson:                                                     Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. ² 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. ³ 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. ⁴ He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares 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!

Second Lesson:                                          Mathew 24:36-44

³⁶ “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷ For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too, will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left. ⁴² Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Did you notice?  Isaiah started not with what he heard, not what he said, but what he saw. The word Isaiah saw, what a strange way to start a prophetic message.  But is it?  What do you remember more, the things you hear or the things you see?  I think Isaiah was on to something.  This is no ordinary seeing. The word haza elevates the seeing to spiritual height and depth—prophetic vision—rather than simply seeing physically.  Isaiah beheld the word, and so saw the world in an extraordinary way. (Sermons.com, Casey Thornburg-Sigmon).   So, this Advent I will be sharing about the things I saw on my pilgrimage to the Holy Lands.  I will share pictures to show you what I saw, and I will paint pictures with words also, all in hopes of preparing a way for our Lord, the birth of God’s Son.

The word of promise we just read in Isaiah is embedded within a prophetic oracle of judgment.  One commentator writes, “In the prior chapter, the “holy” city of Jerusalem is accused of murder, rebellion, injustice, and corruption (Isaiah 1:21-23) (Sermons.com, Michael J Chan).  But here we see the beginnings of Zionism, the land being set apart for the Jews.  “All nations shall stream” to the mountain of the Lord, “many peoples shall come.” For over a hundred of years, Jews have been streaming to Palestine, seeking a home in Zion.  As a Christian I believed in this idea that Israel should have a place, their native land and the creation of the State of Israel.  But I will tell you, having spent three weeks in these holy places, I now struggle with that.  Mostly because of what is being done to the Palestinians who have been displaced, the abuse and occupation of a people who also have deep roots in this land.

We visited the Ten of Nations, a Palestinian farm near Bethlehem.  You can look up Tent of Nations online. The Nassar family has lived there for generations, with documentation back to the Ottoman Empire.  But Israel continues to seek to take their land, have created a roadblock at its entrance, deny permits to make improvements.  (Can you see the tour bus behind that pile of rocks- roadblock.)  The farm is surrounded by five Jewish settlements, wanting them to leave and sabotaging their efforts- bulldozing their apricot trees just before harvest.  Our presence, the presence of international volunteers, is the only thing stopping the attacks on their farm.   After we had a lovely home cooked meal overlooking their dry and rocky farmland, we went to a cave to hear the story of these tenacious and honorable people.  Caves provide shade in this hot dry land.  This family has endured an endless fight to keep their land, just this week appearing before a military court hopeful of a final resolution.  Instead, they were put off once again and have a $10,000 legal bill.  They have been fighting in court for 32 years.  And they are the lucky ones.  Most land was just confiscated, stolen with towns destroyed, creating thousands of refugees.  Within this struggle they work to build bridges between cultures and connections with the land.  They seek to empower women and offer summer camps for kids.  Even with all this struggle they seek to build bridges and hope.  Their slogan is painted in three languages on a rock, “We refuse to be enemies.”

Isaiah’s word of hope reminds us that God shall judge between nations and arbitrate many peoples. I pray God will arbitrate for the Palestinians, for the Nassar family and protect those who have a valid claim to live peacefully on this land.  Our nation will also be judged for the 4 billion dollars we send to Israel every year propping up their military and security, while they turn a blind eye to the difficulties of the Palestinians. Difficulties Israel often creates.  Today is the first Sunday in Advent we are awaiting the arrival of Jesus born in the town of Bethlehem, only 30 mins from the Tent of Nations. Our faith proclaims Jesus the Prince of Peace, but there is no peace in this land.

Isaiah declares a hope, a promise, that the means of war will be transformed into the tools of agriculture.

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

These words hang in my dining room, a gift of needlepoint for doing a baptism at my first church.  The children of the world are united within these words, holding out the hope for peace and unity.

Isaiah’s words are carved into the wall across from the United Nations building, as world leaders strive for peace.  Also there is a statue given by Russia of a man plunging his sword into the ground turning it into a plow.  Art striving for God’ prophetic vision.   I long for this prophecy to come true, for the Prince of Peace to return, for weapons of war to become tools for growth.

The idea of return burns deeply within the people of the Aida Refugee camp near Bethlehem.  We toured some of this overcrowded, impoverished, one-mile square area that is home to 6,000 displaced Palestinians. For 74 years they have eked out an existence always awaiting a time they can return to their homes.  If you ask a resident where they are from, they will tell you the village where they, or their grandparents lived, not Aida Refugee camp, even though many were born in the camp.

The key is a symbol of their longing, their hope.  This is the largest key in the world, but they were denied recognition in Guinness book of world record because no one believes Palestine exists.  Imagine being displaced from your home, confined in an open-air prison and raising your family in these conditions.  They cannot go home because Israel has built illegal settlements on their land.

Then our guide showed us a shop where the metal bullet casings and tear gas canisters that Israel used against the refugees is recycled into art and jewelry.  I bought these earrings wanting to be in solidarity with them and their struggle.   He showed us the rubber bullets used and how they have gotten harder and bigger with time.  Weapons of war are being transformed into merchandise for sale, so much like beating their swords into plowshares.  Oh how I wish they would have the land, the luxury, the life to be able to make plowshares.  But that is not possible in a packed Palestinian refugee camp.  So, they create what they can from the scrap metal shot and hurled against them.

For over 2,000 years we have been waiting for Christ’s return.  Every Advent season we anticipate and wait for our Lord.  For 74 years people in the Aida Refugee Camp have been waiting to return to their homes and villages, waiting to be freed from refugee camps where they turn weapons used against them into keys seeking to unlock peace.  Now let us see what Jesus saw when he proclaimed a vision of future hope.  Proclaimed a message of waiting, watching and staying awake.

Now let us see these words from our Lord, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴²Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. Amen.