i'm moving on

i hope you're coming with me

 

The Holy Gospel according toSt. Luke, the third chapter!

One Emperor, four rulers and two priests all could not conjure up the Word of God. Instead, God's Word shows up in the wilderness to the son of a barren woman.

This work of God is unexpected, unparalleled, and ultimately unlikely. Yet that is exactly what happens. And it is a good thing, too...

 

John, son of Zechariah, while in the wilderness, receives the Word of God.

It is a good thing that God decides to send God's word into the Wilderness. It is a good thing because we all know a thing or two about the wilderness, don't we?

We've known that feeling of being lost.

 

Do any of you watch Modern Family? It is quite good. If you don't watch it, consider it. Anyway, there is an episode where the family goes on a vacation to a dude-ranch.

Two of the characters, Haley and Dylan, are high-school age. They have been dating for the entire series up to this point. Haley is a daughter of one of the main families, and her mother never really cared for Haley's boyfriend, Dylan. Dylan is a bit of an airhead.

So, while they are on the vacation Haley breaks up with Dylan. Dylan flees the scene, heartbroken. In fact, as he leaves he says, "just so you know there is a fan in my room that sounds like crying."

The next morning they awake to find the heartbroken Dylan gone. They mount a search, and eventually come upon Dylan. Not far from the ranch, either. Upon finding him, spacey Dylan captures all the ways we can feel lost in life.

He says, "After you broke up with me, Haley, I felt alone and lost. So I went for a walk, then I felt a completely different kind of alone and lost."

 

We tarry on that scene to remember there are many ways we can find ourselves in the wilderness. Perhaps we've been trying to do everything this holiday season. Perhaps we are grieving over the first holiday when someone we love is away or deceased.

Or, perhaps we can't figure out how to mend one relationship or another. Perhaps when you look at the injustice of the world you feel we are lost. Yes, there are many ways to feel lost. This list does not exhaust those wooded forrest we find ourselves lost in from time to time.

Yes, we know a thing or two about being lost...

In fact, if we're honest, we know that in little ways we have come accustom to being lost. We may even have come to prefer being lost, in certain, little ways.

 

Unfortunately in our seemingly endless wandering, we have taken the forest to be the trees...

And that, sisters and brothers, is why it is good news indeed that the Word of God chooses to show up to the son of a barren woman in the wilderness.

 

In our wandering in that wilderness, a herald comes in, and the herald points another way, a way out of this aimless wandering.

Repent!

Make the paths straight, exalt the valleys, humble the mountains, straighten what is crooked, smooth what is rough!

Repent! Shuv - Return to God! Metanoia - Change your mind! Repent!

 

Now, for those of us who figure the forrest must be the trees after all, John's words are unwelcome. Even harsh sounding.

Repent, we're tempted think. Who, me? Repent? No! I'm doing just fine!

And, admittedly, it is easy to deny we're in need of repentance as long as the cake in the oven isn't burning, there is no argument raging, or no hungry neighbors at you door.

 

But the one in the wilderness is insistent. He is preparing us to encounter God. Metanoia, Shuv, Repent - he says.

Repent. John says this as one who has been in the wilderness, speaking to us, in ours.

And it is a good thing, too.

It is a good thing because there are days when John breaks into our wilderness shouting repent, and darn it all, if that cake isn't burnt, if the children aren't a mess, crying, unready for that holiday party. If our brother isn't on the phone telling us there is more bad news. If in our infinite wisdom we've only made that tense relationship more difficult. If the radio isn't blaring more news about poverty in the world.

Repent! John declares.

Make the paths straight, exalt the valleys, humble the mountains, straighten what is crooked, smooth what is rough!

Repent! Shuv - Return to God! Metanoia - Change your mind! Repent!

 

In exhaustion, for one instance, we stop. We stop and we hear John's words. Repent.

And we stop, and when we look at our wandering, that path we're on, the messes we've made; well it isn't too hard to confess that indeed, this path has been rough, the journey hard.

Yet again we've tried to be God, and we're surrounded by our failure. We've made things worse. The world is no better off. The vulnerable still suffer.

Yes, the journey has been rough, the hills hard to summit, the path winding.

Yes, we need someone to come into our wilderness and declare that we repent, to prepare another way, a different route.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a wonderful quote from his meditations on the preparation we do during Advent. He says,

"The coming of God is truly not only a joyous message, but is, first, frightful news for anyone who has a conscience."

 

Yes, God comes to break into the world and nothing can be the same - there will be consequences. God will change, the world will change, and yes blessed be, we will change!

 

We will change.

Shuv - metanoia - repent!

We will change. There is another way.

God comes to the world, and for four short weeks we stop and prepare. We stop and look at the wilderness we've found ourselves in yet again. The wilderness of the world. The wilderness of our lives.

 

During Advent we stop our wandering and we prepare.

We prepare for the most incredible of miracles, for God coming into the world, God coming into our wilderness. We stop.

We stop right where we are, amidst the rough path, on the crooked road, and we prepare.

 

We stop in our wilderness, in our brokenness, in our need, and we prepare.  We prepare because God has sent a herald into our wilderness, and soon God will come into our wilderness.

 

Yes, that part of us that loves showing up at the holiday party with the children well-behaved, our outfit looking just-so, and the cake perfect, likes to say - Yes, we will stop, we will wait, we will prepare - we will once we have everything in order.

 

And truly, that attitude of ours has much to do with why we have come, in little ways, to prefer the wilderness. We imagine with enough effort, enough time, we can pull off being God.

 

That is not where God's Word shows up, though. And it is a good thing, too. It is a good thing that God's word doesn't choose to show up in the palace or temple. No, God's Word comes to the son of a barren woman, while he is in the wilderness.

 

And so, John, that one sent to prepare the way for The Lord, breaks into our wilderness and says, "Repent."

Sure, we might reply, "In a moment, John!"

 

But John is resolute. God's coming has captivated him and now he is on a mission.

Repent, he insists!

 

And darn it all, the paper has yet another story about ongoing civil war, the fiscal cliff, the decline of Christianity. The argument hasn't gotten any better. The children are crying, and we've just stubbed our toe on one of those rough places in our wilderness.

"John! Now isn't the time. I'm not ready."

And there it is.

That is the final excuse. The truth behind all our wandering. We don't feel ready. Yes, we tell ourselves, the coming of God is a joyous message.

 

But we have consciences, don't we?

And our conscience weighs heavy above us, and so God's coming is a terror.

If we can just find that path we were on before we got lost in the wilderness; then, then we would repent.

But we're so deep in the forrest we can't tell if what is in front of us is the clearing or just more trees.

But, sisters and brothers, God's word comes to John in the wilderness and John goes out into the wilderness to prepare the way.

Right where we are, John says repent.

Right where we are, Advent breaks into our midst.

 

In your wilderness, the rough patch, the low valleys, the towering mounting. Right there, in the midst of all that, God comes. Into your wilderness, God comes.

 

Right where we are; stop.

God's word comes to the wilderness, right where we are now. Right where we are is the perfect place to repent. Right where we are is the perfect place for God to break into our lives, the world.

 

Right now, right here.

 

These are not merely the places God calls us to repent, but the places God chooses to lift the valley, straighten the crooked, lower the hill - ultimately to show all flesh God's love.

 

In our exhaustion we admit it, the path has been rough, the valleys low, the path crooked - our journey, winding. We need someone to come into our wilderness and show us another way, another route. 

 

One Emperor, four rulers and two priests all could not conjure up the Word of God. Instead, God's Word shows up in the wilderness to the son of a barren woman.

 

This work of God is unexpected, unparalleled, and ultimately unlikely. Yet that is exactly what happens. And it is a good thing, too...

Amen