So, this post is a day late. That’s somehow fitting for an Advent post. I mean, the prophets and Jesus himself spoke of his second coming as a seemingly close event, but we’ve been waiting almost two thousand years. And while time beats differently for God and the Kingdom grows in population and imminence by the day, I, frankly, become impatient.

Why? Because he has given us a picture of that coming day. Every time I look at today’s lectionary readings, I am moved. Isaiah tells us of peace between the wolf and the lamb, the lion and the calf. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans speaks of the grafting in of the Gentiles into the people of God with the people of Israel through Jesus, the one from “the root of Jesse,” who will rule over all. Last week’s reading from Isaiah 2 promises that “nation will not rise up against nation,” and that sounds awfully good right now. Here in America, we have enough trouble just dealing with ourselves.

I yearn for the kind of peace the prophet spoke about, the peace that Christ’s reign will bring to the world. I grow impatient and cry out with all creation for it because that peace isn’t here now–within countries, within families, within churches, and even within ourselves. So, even as we rejoice in Christ’s first coming and the salvation he brought us, and even as we rejoice in the promise of his coming back, let us echo John’s ancient cry in Revelation, “Yes, come, Lord Jesus.”