11-20-2022 Swords into Plowshares (Isaiah 2:1-4)

Sermon Passages and Notes: Swords into Plowshares- Isaiah 2:1-4 Isaiah 1:1- The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns[a] of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah. Isaiah 2:1-4 1 The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it, 3 and many peoples will come and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways so that we may walk in his paths.” For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war. Prophets struggle with verb tenses. "It was all happening inside of Mary, and she was so sure of it that she was singing about it ahead of time--not in the future tense but in the past, as if the promise had already come true. Prophets almost never get their verb tenses straight, because part of their gift is being able to see the world as God sees it--not divided into things that are already over and things that have not happened yet, but as an eternally unfolding mystery that surprises everyone..." –Barbara Brown Taylor (Singing Ahead of Time) Luke 1:46-55 Luke 2:29-30 • Prophets struggle with verb tenses. • Prophets desire to live-out life according to God's will for the world– in the present. Isaiah 2:1-4 Are we willing to imagine a world where this is true? 2022 US Defense Budget: $1,640,000,000,000 Take listening to the Spirit seriously. Tell our story faithfully. Open up yourself to the life of the story. We must learn to articulate a Christianity that is strange. “Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future; faith is having the courage to dance to it today." “Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future; faith is having the courage to dance to it today." -- Peter Kuzmic