11Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Isaiah 2:2-5

2In 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. 3Many 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. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

As I started to prepare this last sermon series for the year, I realized so much of what we have done has incorporated being on a journey. Advent is always about a journey to me and it is a journey to something new and exciting, always expectant. The Scriptures for this Advent season will help us prepare for the birth of Jesus Christ through being filled with places-holy places, hard places, and the pathways in between. Together, these places present ?a geography of salvation??a map of the heights and depths our good God will go to bring us home. Through these weeks of Advent, we will ?visit? some of these sacred locales. Along the way we?ll learn that we can meet God on the mountaintop?but that God also draws near to wherever it is we find ourselves. Our journey to Bethlehem will be filled with landmarks from the book of Isaiah, and will lead us to the stories many of us know. Today, we await our invitation to celebrate when the house of the Lord is established. And established it will be. As we walk through ?a geography of salvation,? I invite you to pray with me for our pending invitation. Let us pray.

I don?t know about you, but I always enjoy receiving an invitation in the mail. It could be for a wedding, a birthday party, a retirement party, or a Christmas party. Almost every type of invitation to any kind of party is always fun to receive. I love how couples now send ?save the date? postcards for their wedding. Then you have almost a year or longer to anticipate their wedding! Being invited to something that is special, almost makes you feel liked, loved, included, part of the gang, wanted?people want to be around you so they want to invite you into something special in their lives. And then there are some invitations along the lines of ?let?s get together for dinner,? and it takes months for dinner to happen. But deep down you know dinner will happen, but aren?t quite sure about when. The pending invitation from your friend sits in the back of your head; you wonder about it; and know something will happen; but it doesn?t prevent you from accepting other invitations, it just is there in the wings-it is known and thought about and will happen.

A pending invitation is what we are given today as we begin our journey in Advent with the prophet Isaiah and through the writings of Paul in the book of Romans.? Advent is the season that is based on a time of preparation and anticipation for the coming of Christ. I am a huge believer in observing Advent and really enjoy the time of reflecting and preparing for God to break into the world in a way that no one expected. Yet, when we look at the words from Isaiah, there is much to be learned about preparation, time, and for what is to come. It is almost as if Isaiah has set the stage. ?The curtain rises. A prophet walks onto the darkened stage in a circle of light. He begins to sing?of a mountain, and of nations streaming to it willing to hear holy instruction and be judged by it, willing also to make peace with each other. As the song is ending, another sound rises, the ringing sound of hammers striking metal. It fills the room. That sound is the first in the church?s new year (pg 3).? This reading from Isaiah is declaring God?s future, where holy ground becomes the highest ground, where people from all over will flock to this place; where a new community is being gathered to the Holy One, a multicultural, multiracial, multilingual convergence. It is a glorious vision of the Kingdom of God! Where all are coming together to hear the instruction of God. There will be judgment and arbitrations, but the nations will make peace and God will give justice. The ending of inequity is ground for the ending of violence. Many might even hear the old saying, ?there is no lasting peace without justice.? Once God?s judgment is accepted, the one result is disarmament-where instead of violence we focus on the land and feeding the people. Since the reasons for envy, greed, resentment, retribution, and fear have been abolished, weapons are completely irrelevant. Where instruments of taking life are converted to tools for sustaining life. The economy is converted. The world has changed the way it approaches learning-instead of learning war, hate, discrimination, judgment, the world is now learning the ways of God-peace, love, kindness, God?s ways, and hope for what is to come.

What an amazing invitation! But Isaiah doesn?t leave us there. Isaiah gives us yet another invitation. The invitation to urge us to ?Come, let us walk in the light.? We are invited to walk towards the promise of the future ?in the light of God.? The emphasis is that as we wait, we are not to wait passively, but we are to wait actively, walking in the light with God.

Then the apostle Paul invites us into knowing what time it is. For Paul takes us beyond the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to a new moment of expectancy as the Day of Christ approaches and the reign of God is made fully known. Paul is reminding us that every moment, every decision, every second, is a turning point where we can turn towards the invitation that we have been offered to be with God in the new creation. Paul wants us to put on Jesus Christ, just like Isaiah wants us to walk in the light with God; Paul want us to put on Jesus: his life, his way of being are the garments that we are to put on as we get ready to meet the future. The new day that God is bringing is a time when God and humanity will be reconciled; when peace, justice, wholeness, and integrity will be hallmarks of human society. What Paul wants is for Christians to start living now as thought his new day has already begun. We are encouraged and reminded it is important to walk in the light of God and be the light of Jesus for the world.

Isaiah and Paul are inviting us into something that is really exciting! For God will go to extraordinary lengths to dismantle and repair God?s broken creation. It is good to recall the breadth and depth and the height of what we are called to await. Is there something that God is calling you to wait for?

Our Advent invitation?our Advent dare?is to look toward what is to come with joyful expectancy. However, one thing is abundantly clear: we are not yet on God?s holy mountain. Rather, we are in some in-between place where we want these things to come true, yet we wonder if these promises of God ever will. Some of us could even be stuck in deep valleys of sorrow and loss, others could be twisting and turning along windy paths full of anxiety, doubt, and fear for what is to come. Some of us are lost and we know it. Others walk in circles without ever realizing that we aren?t going anywhere we haven?t already been. No matter where we find ourselves, it is easy to give up hope. But Paul reminds us, ?salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers.? This is true for us no matter where we are on this journey.

What is also true is that no matter where we are on our journeys, our feet can always walk in the light of the Lord. The light of the Lord falls anywhere and everywhere as both Isaiah and Paul remind us today. As we approach this Advent season in the hustle and bustle of the ?Christmas spirit,? I want to encourage you in your journey in a few different ways. First, name what you are hoping for in your lives. What do you hope for? Second, name some ways that you can walk in the light of God each day. Third, look for the holy in the ordinary. Meaning, look at your very ordinary days and see how God is trying to break into them. And lastly, I think we are all waiting for an invitation of some kind. What invitation are you waiting for? What do you hope will come your way during this season of preparation? For remember, God is illuminating our way, every place is special; and every place is holy. Let us journey to the heights, depths, and all the holy and sacred places God will take us on this Advent journey. Blessings and peace along the way. Amen.