December 8: Incredible transformations & washing machines

Isaiah 11:6

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The prophecy of Isaiah concerning the coming shoot from Jesse’s stump, which is understood as Jesus, is filled with images of a transformed world.  It was a vision world of peace and harmony that was so foreign to the lived existence of the Israelite people.  Yet these strange images continue to fill us with hope. If the wolf can live with the lamb in this future surely the animosities and discrepancies of our experience can be transformed as well?

As we struggle to understand the distance between where we find ourselves and the promise of this future it is helpful to encounter contemporary images of transformation that give hope.  In this TED talk by Hans Rosling he recounts the purchase of the first washing machine his family and the changes it introduced for his family.

Hans Rosling The magic washing machine

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_and_the_magic_washing_machine.html