Good morning all!  Hope Monday is treating you well so far!  We have officially begun Advent!  Open the first doors on your calendar today!

Today’s scripture: Micah 4:1-2, 5 (NRSV)
In days to come
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be raised up above the hills.
Peoples shall stream to it,
2     and many nations shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

For all the peoples walk,
    each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

I have always loved this Micah passage for some reason.  I love the image of of there being a place that everyone walks to and everyone gathers.  And when they get there, they are greeted with learning and it will be full of peace.  Usually, I focus in on being in that one spot where God resides.  Biblical writers usually use mountains as that location.  Mountains can be seen. Mountains raise up.  Of course God would reside on a mountaintop.  That is where God could be found.

Today though something else really jumped out at me, especially at the beginning of our journey fully into Advent. The walking.  Our writer has a vision of everyone walking, even those not pursuing our God.

Walking….something most of us do early on.  A basic of human capacity is to walk. Step by step. Walking…something most of us do each day without even thinking about it.  These are steps we dearly take for granted!   Every once in a while I think a lot about walking because it is a goal of mine to walk the Camino de Santiago in the next couple of years.  Originally I had been aiming for this Spring but with life happening, the goal is next spring of 2016.  I am fascinated by the 500 mile walk and something keeps calling me to that kind of intentionality. A few of my friends have walked the camino and their experiences have been amazing.  They have discovered things about life and self that they never would have guessed. I have found through my readings and conversations that there is a clarifying moment for each person, unique to the person but very much part of a larger universe.

Maybe this is what the writer includes as well…the walk to the mountain is as clarifying, educational, and wonderful as getting to the mountain where God resides.  God can’t be kept on a mountain.  We should know that.

This does not mean that we can’t find God in our everyday walk as well.  During this season, we are asked to wait but that doesn’t mean sit.  What if we got intentional about walking during this season instead of running from place to place?

What would it look like to use your steps as intentional prayer?  One step….God.  second step…thanks. You get the picture.

Today think about each step.  Where are you journeying too?  And how will you get there?
Peace,
C