An Advent Message from Bishop Usgaard

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the kid,
The calf and the lion and the fatling together,
And a little child shall lead them.

The prophet Isaiah speaks words of hope and promise in this oracle from chapter 11. They are verses that interrupt more ominous visions of destruction and death. The neighboring empires of Egypt and Assyria have constantly sought military and economic advantage. And the warnings of the prophet to an unjust society seem to go unheeded.

We dream, all of us, of that time when peace will come once and for all. When nations will not rise up against nations, when friends and foes shall live together. Yet we know by now that the power of sin and the devil always seems to interrupt...more troops will be sent over, new sanctions threatened, new bailouts abused.

And these days, even in our own church, we experience anger and fear, and hear threats of division. Folks speak of an inability even an unwillingness to worship together. Too often there seems to be a reluctance even to converse together. So we wonder and worry and feel so powerless.

But in the midst of the gathering darkness, the prophet dares to look ahead to a new day and to one who will usher in that day. It will be a child, born of the family of King David. He will bring change. He will make all things new.

In this season of Advent, we again await that same child. He is our hope. In him is our peace, a peace that you and I cannot seem to bring. There is where our confidence lies, in a child who becomes our Savior and Lord...a child who will one day recreate creation as it was first intended...a child who from the beginning to the end watches over his church.

Be at peace in these days. Look ahead with confidence in the promise of a child. He is the one who makes all the difference.

Shalom,
Harold Usgaard
Bishop