Ashley Brandon Meditation

Our world is defined by ever-changing roles of power, from our global interaction to our closest relationships. Our earthly understanding of justice is to switch the roles, to transfer the power and the powerlessness to someone else. Isaiah sees something different—a vision of God’s order restored, a place without scarcity or pain, where we are naked and vulnerable before one another without fear or shame, where all of creation lives in communion and peace, where power roles are not reversed but rather eliminated. Isaiah sees the one who brings this vision to life, not by ruling with power and might, but by loving, serving, and being God with us. Emmanuel reveals a new understanding of justice, one of grace, healing, and reconciliation. He is our hope, our way to the holy mountain where we lie down together, side by side, wolf and lamb, infant and asp, and He is coming.

God of peace, transform our fear into hope, our wounds into healing, and our brokenness into reconciliation through the one who lies down beside us. Amen.

Ashley Brandon (MAR 2009)
Member, Southwest Alumni Steering Committee
Lower and Middle School Chaplain
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School
Austin, Texas