Prophets remind us that God s time is not our time. Being a prophet is a dangerous business. John loses his head. Jesus is nailed to the cross. All of the prophets understood that in order to connect our lives with God s future, it required commitment, cost and change.
Advent is our time for seeing like a prophet.
It s a funny line, because it draws out of us our innate cynicism about religion and the vision of hope in scripture. We don t really expect the lion and the lamb to lie down together. It s a nice little metaphor, but it s unrealistic. Rich, educated people like Episcopalians are easy prey to cynicism. We are realistic, in control and not easily open to anything that will seriously effect our priorities.