In the context of failed leadership, despair and threat from hostile neighbours, Isaiah’s call is for justice and peace, a message of hope. His poetics of a righteous shoot expresses a longing for leadership characterised by wisdom and devotion to God with a heart for the poor. We still have a deep and an overwhelming longing for Isaiah’s vision (11.1-10) of shalom for our troubled world.

This week's news

Contradictions and injustices surround us: racism continues to be a deadly stain in our midst; in spite of our wealth many are hungry; minorities continue to be persecuted; people are rising up against their governments; the refugee crisis from the civil war in Syria is taking its toll on children, as all sides are implicated in war crimes; the UK and some European countries are in ‘keep the immigrant out' mode; justice is sacrificed for the idol of economic growth and political expediency; and while we debate rising energy costs and fuel poverty, the environment continues to feel the impact of the over-extended footprints of humans.

Reflection

Justice for the whole of creation

Isaiah’s ‘new shoot poetics’ anticipates that good governance must extend to the well-being of the whole of creation. The scope of God’s salvific work embraces the whole of creation. God’s desire is for a just world walking and living in peace through the care for one another, the poor, the needy, and for the whole of creation. We are invited to participate in and practice God’s vision of the future in the present.

New shoot from a stump

A shoot from a stump is ripe with possibilities. Was Isaiah cynical of the ruling authority? His prophecies began at the time of corrupted leadership and a yearning for wise and righteous leaders. Isaiah aches for a leader as described by the prophets from Amos to Ezekiel. The image of a tree stump suggests death while a sprouting green shoot underscores new and hopeful beginnings. At the heart of this ‘new’ is a basic concern for justice for the poor, the needy/vulnerable and the oppressed. Faith in Yahweh is to be at the heart of this king’s actions.

Dreaming a different world

Like an artist, Isaiah paints his vision of a new landscape with vibrant, passionate, generous and daring brushstrokes, imaging peace and wholeness and a safe place to be vulnerable; to reach out, stretch out and grow. Isaiah imagines a world in terms of justice for the poor, of righteousness and faithfulness, of the overcoming of the destructiveness of power and might, and the ascendency of what is powerless and vulnerable.

Advent God of life

The God of life, who comes to us as a vulnerable Child offers the possibility of life, even when the evidence around us may suggest death. Our Advent God invites us to lift our fixed gaze from the stumps of despair, gently urging us to note the green shoots sprouting, the fruit from the roots of a felled tree, and the possibility of a return to a place where peace and justice reigns in a holy embrace

Prayer

You may wish to include the following as a prayer of approach or a collect.

Hope-filled-God-of-life, 

we thank you for the vision of shalom you have given us through your servant Isaiah. 

Kindle in us the fire of your Spirit, 

so that this vision may continue to inspire and draw us 

to your way of peace and justice. 

Clear our lives of the ‘dead stumps’ of hatred, bigotry, wars, violence, 

the irresponsible care of creation, apathy and despair. 

May shoots of generosity, joy and peace 

sprout and blossom into hope that will bring your reign closer to us! 

We pray in the name of the Child 

through whom you offer full and flourishing life for the whole of creation. 

Amen.

Questions

• If you could describe your greatest longing for your community, for Britain, and for the world, what would it be? 
• Consider the places in which peace breaks out where you never thought it would be possible.
• Consider the sort of reversals Isaiah offers. What would it have been like then? What might it look like now, if we were all to live this vision?

Action

Reflect on how God might be calling you to deepen your commitment to peace, to shalom, to right living. 

Consider the small shoots of life bursting forth from your experience of a ‘dead stump’. Name and share some of these with a partner/friend.

Young People

What is the ‘stump’ in your life? How and where is God raising up/out from the stump hopeful and surprising new shoots? 

If you feel led to make a new move for peace, share it with a friend or with someone in your life to whom you can both be mutually accountable.

Michael Jagessar, a minister of the United Reformed Church, is currently secretary for inter-cultural ministry and moderator of the General Assembly (2012-2014) of the United Reformed Church.