Peaceable Kin-dom

The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them. ~ Isaiah 11:6

When a Sharp-shinned Hawk is perched on a wire or branch, you might be captivated by their nearly noble appearance; the intensity of their stare, or their sleek shape, ready to explode into the chase. When they burst into flight, pursuing a meal, you might thrill at first, then feel conflicted between cheering for predator or prey. If the victim is a House Sparrow, you may feel some affinity with the hungry hawk. But if they dare snatch a Black-capped Chickadee or House Finch off the feeders we carefully maintain in our yard, loyalties are likely to shift. You might even shout at the hawk to leave those poor birds alone.

Isaiah’s prophetic vision of a peaceable kin-dom fills us with a warm feeling, even if it is impossibly Utopian. A careful reading of the creation and origin myths in our scriptures reveals that the first animals were not offered to the first humans as food, only after Noah steps off the ark do we hear, “now I give you the animals for food.” So the prophet’s dream is a return to the garden. It is not a place where there is no work to do. Adam and Eve were charged with tending and keeping the earth (as we still are and will be). Isaiah foresees a place and time where none harm one another. That is the goal, not a rest that means nothing to do, but a sort of resting where the work is generative and fulfilling. We can never find that heavenly place until we stop competing for possessions and power, and certainly not while we keep hurting each other.

The good news is that Jesus told us how to get there, by loving our neighbor, loving our enemy, and not even calling names or thinking angry thoughts about others. OK, so maybe he was also describing a mythic place in the mists of eternity. If so, then why did he tell us that this kin-dom of God was at hand? He assured us that if we had the proper understanding (eyes to see and ears to hear) that our hearts would perceive heaven not as there and then, but as here and now. Perhaps he simply wanted us to notice the progress toward paradise that happens every time we act more loving, particular when it is most difficult.

Prayer: Holy Enticer, may the tears of our current pain water the garden that has never stopped needing tending and never stopped growing. And may we taste and see the heaven that we are in. Amen.