Good question, Dad (Brant). And Advent really messes with our expectations even more because we eventually get something, we get Christ at the celebration we call Christmas. But, in this weird church year cycle, we still don’t know what to expect, as we’re still in that in-between time that Paul is dealing with–Cullmann’s “christ already but not yet.” But perhaps we should deal with that later and push Advent for the time being.

As Bruggeman, says in the Covenant Network video, “God’s new things tend to blow our socks off.”

Advent expectation is different. Isaiah hopes/longs for peace. Paul expects Jesus’ imminent return, but urges the Romans not to let their standards down. No PHI PHI DELTA PHI or whatever fraterinity beer bashes.

Perhaps worth asking: what do we expect?

I want to think more about the Coming of God to judge, then bring peace.

By baptism, I’m assuming you were picturing in your head the white robes that the newly baptized put on after their immersion in the buff. My grandfather was talking with the new female rabbi in Dothan, and she was explaining how when she converted to Judaism, she had to undergo a ritual washing very similar to our baptism, where she had to be completely naked and immersed but her feet couldn’t touch the floor of the pool–so it was only water touching her on all sides.

My dad, when he didn’t really know what to say, used to say one of two things (both of which he picked up at the Naval Academy). The first was, “Go Navy, beat Army!” I know, truly profound. The other was, “Get Naked.” The thought of getting naked for Jesus makes me smile.

When I think of armor, I think of something clunky, heavy, uncomfortable, and awkward. Something hard to move in. I wonder what armor would have looked and felt like in Paul’s time. Perhaps it was lighter and more supple than our medieval stereotypes. An armor of light seems less about protection and more about illumination. It also seems like something you can move in. My kind of armor.

Is a pruning hook part of the armor of Christ?

I also like in Isaiah the image of everyone going on a pilgrimmage to God’s Mountain. It makes me think of Mountain Day at Williams. It was on an undetermined Friday in the Fall, to be decided the night before by the President of the College (About that day and hour, no one knows, not even the Son…). At midnight on a Thursday night, the bells would go crazy, and everyone would know that classes were cancelled the next day. Friday, everyone would hike up the mountain, and there would be a big celebration with different groups performing, etc. In the Isaiah text, I picture everyone streaming in from everywhere, converging on the paths that lead up the mountain. So you have the people converging and going up the mountain, but you also have instruction and the Word coming out (from Jerusalem, from Zion). In come the people, out come instruction and the Word. Again, perhaps this is another instance when illumination replaces war. Not the armor of defense, the armor of illumination.

A pruning hook, from the Hebrew “mazmerah” is another device used for agriculture. These days, they tend to be on long poles but back in the day they probably had shorter handles and were used in the harvest.

Paul also uses, “putting on Christ” in Gal 3:26 which is also translated this way: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

I like the tie-in to baptism. I wonder how Advent, specifically, relates to baptism. Wish I had the Stookey book that’s on my shelf in Decatur! So, to Neal, perhaps putting on Christ is much more than surface level. Maybe it’s about understanding who we truly are underneath our surface-level Mission Impossible disguises.