In our scripture readings for this First Sunday of Advent, we are reminded of the unity in God to which we are called and the peace that will be ours when that unity is achieved.
            In the prophecy from Isaiah, we have the beautiful image of God’s Kingdom as a city set upon a hill to which all the nations will one day come and all will live in conformity with what God has desired for the human family from the beginning of creation. God desires that all people live in peace as the one family that we are given that we have all been created by one God and all share in the same dignity that comes from having been created in God’s own image and likeness. Sadly, we hear this truth, but don’t appreciate the beauty of it. We think that it is hopelessly idealistic given that there is so much division in our nation and in our world today. We dismiss this vision as the hope of naïve dreamers; a vision whose realization we will never see.
            It is true that it is most likely that we will not live to see the realization of this vision of God for the human family, but we are still obligated to help make this vision real. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked tirelessly to realize the vision of a nation in which racial divisions would be overcome, poverty would be vanquished, and there would truly be liberty and justice for all. Dr. King never ceased to work toward the realization of this vision and ultimately gave his life in pursuit of it. At a time when the great work of Dr. King seems threatened, it is all the more important that each of us, as Christians, work tirelessly to realize God’s vision for our nation and world. We must be persons who foster peace and not division. We must be persons who recognize that all persons are our brothers and sisters regardless of their race, their religion, their immigration status, their sexual orientation or their social class. Our nation needs Christians who are committed to realizing God’s vision of unity and peace for the human family.
            In this Advent season, pray for the grace to be an agent of unity and peace so that you might be an instrument through whom God can realize God’s vision for this world.