(Is.2:1-5; Ps.122:1-9; Rm.13:11-14; Mt.24:37-44) "Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may instruct us in His ways, and we may walk in His paths." "Beat [your] swords into plowshares." "Throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." "It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep," and to "stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come." And even now He calls you to "go up to the house of the Lord" and "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." Advent has come, and so we are reminded of the Lord's coming and our need to be prepared. He will not come in vain, and will not accept any vanity into His kingdom. His is a kingdom of light into which no darkness enters. His is a place of peace where "rivalry and jealousy" and all "the desires of the flesh" find no provision. If in the days of Noah they were blind to the time of their visitation, and so "the flood came and carried them away," how can it be the same with us, who have the first coming of Christ in the manger and on the cross to stir us to wakefulness? If we live now as in the days of Sodom, how much greater will be our punishment? If we allow our house to be "broken into" though we have His voice calling to our hearts, what could make us think that He will take us with Him when He comes again? It is indeed time to wake from the sleep of sin and "stream toward… the Lord's mountain." There we shall rejoice in His grace as His "relatives and friends"; there we shall find the light of His teaching. "For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem," and it shall fill the earth with holiness. The Lord has been born in our midst. The Word has been made flesh and walked among us. Now we are called to become like Him, to walk in His ways of peace. And so when He returns at the end of time, we will be prepared to "set foot within [the] gates" of His kingdom. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Can We Go Together?" from Bearing the Birth Pangs, tenth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, let us walk in the light of your Son until He comes. YHWH, let us go up to your House, where we shall find our peace, where we shall find the instruction we need to leave behind all deeds of darkness and enter into your holy light. When your Son returns for us, let us be awake and ready to welcome Him, and He will welcome us into your kingdom. O LORD, let all the nations come to your holy mountain, to the place of wisdom and peace, that all weapons of destruction might be themselves destroyed and war might be no more. Let not any nation raise the sword against another, and let no man fall again into sin. Let us be trained for peace, not war; purity, not lust. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that it shall extend to the ends of the earth. In this time let it come and dispel all rivalry and jealousy, all the works of the flesh. Your Spirit reign upon us, O LORD; let your Son come to carry us to you.