Isaiah 36:1-3,13-20; 37:1-7; 2:1-4

You did read that right in the description.  We are suppose to read chapter 2 of Isaiah after chapter 36 and 37.  That seems a little weird until, we consider what happens in chapter 2.  In this chapter of Isaiah, we hear what happens when God is present.  God comes down and helps settles disputes. No longer are there swords but instead plow shares.  Nation will not rise against nation in war but instead talk to each other.  It seems like a pipe dream doesn't it?  No more war.  No more violence. People working together to feed other people.  People working together for the benefit of all, instead of just themselves or there little neck of the woods.  Can you even imagine what a world like this would even look like?  Let us take a couple of minutes to dream about it....

 I can see people getting along.  I can see people listening to one another.  I can feel hope, instead of fear.  I see people getting enough to eat.  I see people helping other people so that can have a hand up.  I see people not being lonely.  I see people understand that they are loved and cared for.  I see people have a place to live.  I feel that people are respected and have dignity because they are treated as a brother or sister and not an enemy.

So is this just a pipe dream that Isaiah is having?  What if I told you that this can happen and even better that this going to happen.  What if I told you that we can be a part of the transformation of our world?  How would that make you feel?  Now here is even the harder question what is God calling you to do?  Is it listening to your neighbor?  Is it helping to make sure nobody in our community goes hunger?  Is it mentoring a child?  Is it giving a stranger hope instead of reacting to them out of fear?  What is it?

In our fractured world, we as Christians need to be God's hands and feet on the ground to help people realize that God's message of peace, of love, and of grace is not some fairy tale but the truth.  A truth that will help free this world of its violence and usher in understanding; mercy; and peace.