Vigilant Hope

If you were to visit the United Nations Headquarters in New York City and walk through the North Garden you would find there a striking statue, one in which a man of strength is taking a hammer and shaping a sword into a ploughshare, which is a component of a plow. The plowshare is the cutting or leading edge of the plow. A plow is a farm implement which breaks ground. My farm boy husband also explained to me that it renews the ground bringing up fresh new soil. This is an interesting detail that I had not thought of and is of value when considering the scripture reading today.

Given the current state of global affairs today and Russia’s war on the Ukraine, one might be taken aback to know that it was gifted to the United Nations on December 4, 1959 by the delegation from the Soviet Union. “The statue was presented during a time when the world was grappling with the aftermath of World War II and the onset of the Cold War. It serves as a powerful reminder of the need for peace and cooperation among nations. The gift from the Soviet Union was particularly significant, symbolling a hope for reconciliation and a commitment to disarmament.”[1]

It would seem now, just as it was in the time of Isaiah, that people working for peace and experiencing peace seems to be short lived in the long view of the world. Humanity seems to have a penchant for messing up what is good and falling into a state of upheaval, fear, and at times chaos. We seem to forget what it takes to live in peace and many of us are losing hope for peace.

Then God breaks in, as God has a tendency to do. The Old and New Testaments are filled with stories of people losing their way with rulers and governments creating systems and policies that destroyed lives. Even these few verses in Isaiah come in the midst of wars that threaten the lives and livelihoods of the people in Jerusalem where Isaiah worked in the monarchy and, out of that, was called in a vision by God to speak against what the Israelites were doing at that time. The decisions that were being made by leaders took them from the promises of God and led them into great turmoil. The way of being in the world took them out of relationship with God into trusting in themselves to know and do better.

These five verses in Isaiah speak to a hope that people can work for a world in which weapons that take life can be transformed into tools that benefit humanity. Tools that bring life to both people and creation.

These words are as prophetic today as they were in the time of ancient Israel. We continue to live in a world in which chaos, pain, suffering, abuse, and power appear to have the upper hand. It is happening in the nucleus of families and relationships, and it is in the big picture of global conflict.

Yet into this Isaiah speaks of a vision of hope in which, as the statue at the United Nations depicts, people come together for peace and stability, for well-being and love for people of all nations and creation. And because Isaiah was writing as a man of God, he sees this as people coming to God and “[God will] show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.”[2]

So the question is, how does God work? The answer is given to us in the life of Jesus and this starts with God becoming a human being. A human baby. God began with us. God grew and walked among us in the person of Jesus and showed us what God’s ways look like…feeding the hungry, healing the hurting, teaching about grace, peace, and truth. Jesus came and loved others, taught about injustice and about speaking out against acts of injustice. Jesus showed in word and deed what love and compassion look like. And because of Jesus, because God choose to walk among us as a person, we have hope.

Hope means believing that things can get better. Yes, it is hard to believe the world can change, and to tell you the truth we may not see much change in our life times. Still there have always been people who have worked for change. There are people in our own time who are working for change, and God calls upon us to be part of that work. As Christians we believe that heaven can be on earth. It is what we live for. We pray it in the Lord’s Prayer with the words, “…your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

As followers of Christ and believers of who God is and what God can do, we trust that what we do now to make the world a better place will have an impact, even if we don’t see the change. We trust that God is working in and through us in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about a world in which all people come together in peace, in love, and in joy.

This is Advent hope. It is hope that trusts. Hope that waits expectantly for change. Hope that gives us courage to do the hard work. Hope that is filled with compassion for all humanity and creation itself. Hope that waits for Christ’s return.

It may sound lofty, but it is as earthy as the ground. It is accomplished in moments and in lifetimes. It is hope that is vigilant and for us began with the birth of a child who grew into a man that changed the world through his life, death, resurrection and ascension. The whole story captured in one life. The hope of the world given to us in the birth of Jesus and a time to come when Jesus will once again be fully with us. So live with hope. Live into the promises of God for you and for all humanity.

And one day we will see God make things right between many peoples.
Turning their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes. No more will nation fight nation; they won’t play war anymore. Come, let’s live in the light of God!

[1] united nations swords into plowshares statue - Search. Accessed November 30, 2025.

[2] Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

To download this sermon, click here.
Online Service
Worship Service in print