On Wednesday evening, I opened up the Marin Independent Journal to the photograph on the front page. The face was so sad and worried with a wrinkled brow, hair mussed, beard graying, eyes sad, and hands clasped. You may have seen the picture. My heart ached for Frank Lindh, the father of John Philip Walker Lindh who was captured this week at an Afghan prison. My heart ached for his mother, Marilyn Walker, as well. At age twenty and alumni of one of the excellent alternative high school programs in the Tamalpais district, their son was world traveling as so many of my own son's friends have done: to India, Thailand, or Sweden. However, before he was discovered, Walker and Lindh were already concerned because they had not heard from their boy since May when he was studying in Pakistan. A wandering, prodigal son or a Taliban fighter? Certainly his parents are concerned and afraid. When will we know the full story? CNN and the news services are doing their best detective work examining the backyard swing and family home, questioning teachers and neighbors and teen-aged friends here in Marin County. We can sense the effort to reach for hope in Frank Lindh's words as he told the reporter, "We have no reason to think my son has done anything wrong." *

Traditionally, the Advent season is a time of hope-filled waiting as we anticipate the celebration of the Christmas birth and look toward the day when God's love is experienced throughout the world. However, this Advent is different than any prior year since we, as a nation and world, experienced September Eleventh. We travel differently, more slowly and cautiously. We plan differently, carefully and hesitantly. We love differently, more intentionally and with verbal expression unsure of what the future might bring. We watch on television the war's progress in Afghanistan and monitor the latest news stories of the U.S. Postal Service. Since it is the first time in my lifetime that our nation has experienced such an attack, I realize that I am even more aware of violence in other parts of the world, more concerned about people who find danger in shopping centers and pizza parlors. The words of the prophet Isaiah seem almost fairytale. "The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf together with the lion and a little child shall lead them."

The Promised Land, the Holyland, that small portion of the world that is at the crossroads of major continents has long been a battleground for larger nations that were anxious to have access to the Mediterranean Sea and control over trade routes. Though the reasons may be different today, the violence is just as real as in Isaiah's time. Assyria threatened Israel as armies marched in from the north coming closer and closer to Judah's military and spiritual capital in Jerusalem. The Northern Kingdom fell to Assyria and Judah survived only to lose to Babylon a century later. It is not natural for a lamb to live with a wolf or a goat to lie down with a leopard or an Israelite to trust an Assyrian or a resident of Jerusalem to trust a Babylonian or a United States citizen to shake hands with a Taliban, or a Mayan in Guatemala to believe that a military general from the three-decade civil war would uphold national security today for indigenous peoples. But Isaiah's dream, his hope, his vision from God was that someday it would happen, that someday the root from the peaceful era of King David's time would grow and blossom as a signal to all nations that life could be lived without fear for anyone, everyone, for all peoples! The surprise twist is that Isaiah didn't predict a massive army with B-52s and smart bombs to bring this about, to control our violent human tendencies, but that the Spirit of the Lord will be in people's hearts and that will be all that is needed. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and awe of God will guide society and our relationships with each other. People will not judge by what they see or hear, not by rumors or impressions, but decisions will be made based on justice and righteousness. With the honesty and integrity of a child, humankind will be known and people throughout the world will live in faith, in trust, of God and of each other. What a dream!

During Advent, we prepare and wait to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, God in the form of a vulnerable baby, smiling, playing, crying, nursing, sleeping. However, we also dream, prepare and look forward to that final coming, when all people of the world accept God's spiritual gift of wisdom and understanding, knowledge and awe, when our world is welcoming, supportive, and loving to all human beings. In the time of John, the Baptizer, the people of Judea who were governed by the Romans, hoped and yearned for that future spoken of by the prophets. They knew it would take a commitment on their own part so they came from Jerusalem and all Judea to John for a baptism of repentance in the river Jordan. They confessed their sins, those actions they wished they had not done and those kind acts that remained undone. Some who felt quite righteous themselves came out of curiosity or out of a desire to be sure they had all their own spiritual bases covered, but they did not fool John. They were not unlike some of us today who attend church regularly and claim a personal relationship with Jesus but resist involvement with those we place outside of our social circle; the oppressed, the lonely, the poor, and those we see as different from ourselves. With gray beard, mussed hair, dressed in camel's fur and eating locusts and wild honey, John minced no words to the comfortable ones. "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children of Abraham!" Twice he reminded them to bear fruit with their actions to show that they had truly repented. Then, without naming Jesus, he promised that the one who comes after him would baptize them and us with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

This is the Advent Sunday of hope. In this year of "9-11", dare we open our hearts to God's Spirit? Can we let ourselves be fully baptized? Dare we let go of the ways we protect ourselves from shock and pain, let go of our fear and open ourselves to God's energy confident that we are healed, restored, and forgiven? This year, especially, I invite you to pray, to open yourself to God frequently. The Islamic practice of five times each day is something we Christians would be wise to adopt. As we are busy making lists and shopping, working, decorating, baking, planning, let us not put ourselves on spiritual auto-pilot but allow God's hope and vision for the world to be expressed through our own lives. Even within our families and work relationships, there are wolves who need to come to the table with lambs, for leopards and goats to be together and for little children to lead us.

Today we remember the victims, those who died on September 11 and since then, along with their family members who struggle without them during this season of traditions. We hope and pray for a time of peace for those in the Middle East, for those serving in Afghanistan, and for Frank Lindh, Marilyn Walker and their son John.* Let us pray:

* In the presentation of the sermon, it was my intention to view the parents of John Walker with empathy and sympathy. Without judging his guilt or innocence, I suggested that both he and his parents are in need of our prayers as well as all victims and the families of September 11 and of this war. Regrettably, I did not also mention other victims who died this week, the family of the murdered CIA agent, Johnny Michael "Mike" Spann, and other non-terrorist peoples of Afghanistan. May we together continue to work for a world of peace.