Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

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.
    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.
He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
    and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more.

O house of Jacob,
    come, let us walk
    in the light of the Lord!

Isaiah is our anchor text for this Advent worship series. But Psalms gives us the mood, theme, or even soul. “I was glad when they said to me ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” The opening line from Psalm 122 captures something of the Advent spirit this year. From “I was glad” to “go to the house of the Lord.” We are singing a song of ascent this Advent season.

Let us go up. Up, why up? Going to God is always up. Going to worship is always up. That was a geographic reality for the Jewish people. Jerusalem was built on a hill, so no matter which direction you approached, you were going up. And since true worship could only happen in the temple, let us go up to worship is the description of the approach.

But what are we approaching? Well, worship of course. And something more. This is Advent, the season of anticipation, of watching and waiting – active waiting. Christmas? Well, no and yes. We’re not trying to be mysterious here, but there is definitely a no and yes to that question.

No, the season of Advent isn’t really designed to be a countdown to the celebration of Christmas. It is a time of preparation for Christ’s return and the establishment of the kin-dom of God. It is a reminder that we are heading someplace; we are works in progress; we are longing for something more. That’s the upward call of Advent. We sing an Advent song of ascent as we climb up to worship in that new reality, that new way of being in the world. Not that this is a human-made reality, but that we are longing for this completion. We are looking forward.

At the same time, we are indeed looking back. Yes, we are anticipating Incarnation, the time when God broke into our history and became present in an astonishing way. And we look forward to when Emmanuel – God with us – will be how we live always. We remember Christmas, the real depth and power of this singular act and the child who lived God’s presence among us, something that even the worst of the commercialism cannot ultimately overcome.

Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44