Advent 2018 – Day Two – One Vision

by admin · Published September 30, 2018 · Updated December 2, 2018

As I reflected on this passage the The Queen song – One Vision – popped into my head. It contains the lyrics

“One flash of light.
One God, one vision.

I am not sure many of us get that one flash of light but some of us do! Nevertheless, we all do share in the one vision of God and his relationship with us which is restored by the coming of Jesus.

We perhaps have a tendancy to think of direct interactions with God as something which happened only in ancient times. However, I believe, God still interacts with us in our lives today. We dream dreams and see visions just as the prophets did.

Like them we seek to reveal God to the world around us by being his modern day prophets both through our words and our lives.

I love the images of Isaiah, he is almost always depicted writing the word of God on a scroll. Perhaps we should all carry a notebook and jot down the things we feel God is saying to us?

Through our Christian writings, be they the those in the Bible or in the many works written today, the glory of God is revealed to people far beyond the person who is initially inspired by God.

On this, day two of our journey to Bethlehem, we give God the glory for our creative minds and the way they help us to explore, in fresh ways, your love for us in the coming of Jesus.

Bible Passage: – Isaiah Chapter 11 Verses 1-9(NIV)

The Branch From Jesse

Jesse Tree Beauvais Cathedral

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord

and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Cristoforo Majorana – Leaf from Psalter – Walters

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

Prayers and Reflection

Helpful Hymn

Hymn: Songs of Fellowship – “I hear the sound of rustling”

Contemplation saying.

“.. the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord ..”

Let us pray together.

Contemplative Prayer.

Think of the saying in order to understand context and meaning, Feel the meaning of the saying with and in your heart,

Pray, using the saying, for yourself or others. With only a name and without explaining the reasons or pre-defining any answers.

Listen for God’s voice in the quiet of your prayers.

Pray using your own prayers or one of those which have been prepared below.

Twitter Prayer

Loving God we thank you for your gift of dreams and visions still sent to us today. Amen.

Facebook Prayer

Loving God we thank you for the richness of our experiences of your presence in our lives. For the dreams and the visions you give us which show us the ways that we can draw closer to you. We thank you for the inspiration, you give to so many, to record these your gifts of insight to increase our understanding of you. Amen.