“When Love Abounds” – Isaiah 11:1-9 – December 2, 2007

For Thanksgiving my wife and I visited the Smokey Mountains. We stayed in a cabin in the mountains, far away from the busy world of traffic, tourists and holiday hoopla. It was peaceful. For a few days we had our very own little paradise. Society was just minutes away but other than a few glimmering lights in the distance we were literally on top of the world in peaceful surroundings.

Isaiah gave his vision of paradise on the holy mountain of God. He described a world where people would live in peace. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together…” Isaiah’s vision of a better world was also one where people would “fear the Lord.” To fear the Lord meant to have both an awareness of God and also a reverence toward God. Isaiah’s world was also a place where righteousness and faithfulness would be the order of the day. In other words, his vision would be a world where love would abound.

Sometimes life can be chaotic especially during the season of Advent that precedes Christmas. There is much to do and not enough time to do it. Shopping is hectic and the lines are getting longer. Unfortunately, people seem to have less patience. It’s supposed to be the season of love, but sometimes you have to look hard to find it. How can we find that place on God’s Holy Mountain that Isaiah proclaimed?

One evening just before Mary Martin was to go on stage in South Pacific, a note was handed to her. It was from Oscar Hammerstein, who was writing from his deathbed. It read, “Dear Mary, a bell’s not a bell till you ring it. A song’s not a song till you sing it. Love in your heart is not love until you give it away.”

After the performance a number of people rushed back stage, exclaiming, “Mary, what happened to you out there tonight? We have never heard anything like that performance! You sang with more power than you’ve ever sung!” Mary then read the note from Hammerstein and said, “Tonight, I gave my love away!”

A peaceable paradise is realized when we are able to give love away. People are so overwhelmed by the complexity of life that we hold back our love for fear of not having enough for ourselves. We guard it. We control it. We reserve it. Sadly, we are not free to let it go. When we were getting ready to leave our cabin on the mountain I was turning off the lights when my wife said, “Oh, I almost forgot the tip.” She pulled a ten dollar bill out and laid it on the table with a note that said, ‘Thank you for making our visit a pleasant one.’ My wife is always generous to those who serve others, like maids and waitresses. She had no idea who would be cleaning the cabin after we left, but, it didn’t matter. She was showing her appreciation by being generous.

Isaiah was an advocate for the most vulnerable people in society. “With righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” In Isaiah’s paradise everyone is included and everyone is equal. Isaiah encouraged the faith community to have a generous spirit. Grinch-like attitudes will not help you find the peace you are searching for. The Grinch lived on top of a mountain, but because of his stinginess and self absorption he was further away from God than the Who’s who lived in the valley below.

It may not be realistic for the whole world to live in total peace. But, Isaiah was not talking about the whole world. He was talking about the faithful. Peace can be realized for the faithful when they give their love away. While it may be impossible to live in a world where all nations, religions, societies and races of people live in harmony, it is possible to be at peace with ourselves since we have given our love away.

Giving generously can bring peace to our souls. However, I believe that Isaiah was describing a love that can extend beyond our wildness imagination. “A little child shall lead them,” he said. How can a child bring peace to a hostile world where selfish grownups are obsessed with power and survival? How can the most vulnerable in society make a difference?

One time a young mother was making her way on foot across the hills of South Wales. She was carrying her tiny baby in her arms. The wintry winds were stronger than she anticipated and her journey took much longer than she had planned. Eventually she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. The woman never reached her destination. When the blizzard had subsided, those expecting her arrival went in search of her. After hours of searching, they finally found her body underneath a mound of snow. As they shoveled the snow away from her frozen body, they were amazed to see she had taken off her outer clothing and wrapped her infant son in her own clothing to keep him warm. To their amazement they found the child alive and well. Years later the child, David Lloyd George, became the prime minister of Great Britain. He was regarded as was of England’s greatest statesmen.

What a tremendous sacrifice the mother of David George made. And yet, her sacrifice enabled her infant son to become a leader of a great nation. Sacrificial love can make a difference in the world. It is sacrificial love that can make peace a reality.

When Isaiah said a little child would lead him, the word in Hebrew for child is na’ar. The word na’ar is closer to the word “servant.” Isaiah was giving hope to the faith community by proclaiming that a peaceful world becomes a reality when we live our lives as servants. Servants are generous toward others. Servants don’t have aspirations of living at the top. The life of a servant is the way toward a life of peace.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. A more accurate translation for the word shalom is “fullness.” God wants our lives to be full. God wants us to acquire that fullness by being people who live with hope, love and trust in God.

During our trip to the Smokey Mountains we had the opportunity to visit my youngest brother. He moved to the mountains from Florida last year. He is currently working for Home Depot. He loves his work but my brother has no aspirations of getting any kind of a promotion. He is content to be serve customers and not have a management position. All of his brothers are skilled professionals but he enjoys being who he is. During our visit he showed me pictures of his modular home in the mountains. There were scenic views which included deer grazing in his backyard. He may live in the hills of Tennessee, far away from society, but for him it is paradise.

Most people I know are overwhelmed at trying to survive. Many are feeling powerless and their lives are in turmoil. Isaiah offers us shalom. Our lives can become full by giving our love away, for there is no greater power than the power of love. Our lives can be in harmony when we are at peace with who we are. Our lives can be full when we trust that God is with us.

I believe Isaiah wanted the faith community to dream. There’s nothing wrong with having a vision, for that’s how great things happen. Most everyone I know tends to be satisfied with the ways things are. In fact, most folks resist change and put their efforts into maintaining the status quo. That’s why people say, “Don’t rock the boat.” Or, “If it aint broke, don’t fix it.” When we are content to keep things as they are, we have no vision of what could be.

We are conditioned to believe that a better economy will make a better society. Therefore we are encouraged to go out and buy stuff. The consumer index has become the pulse of our society rather than the living presence of a loving God.

Those who dream and have visions of a better future are looked upon crazy. I’m sure Isaiah’s message was not very popular with the masses. Yet, Isaiah believed in a reality that modeled peace, harmony, and most importantly hope. Isaiah wasn’t satisfied with the current condition. He believed things could be better. He advocated compassion instead of self-preservation. He argued for service instead of success.

God wants us to have a peaceful existence and live in paradise. God wants us to dream and work toward that dream by giving our love away. When that happens paradise is not some distant place but an everyday reality.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio