Prepare the Way!

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, 

               make straight in the desert a highway for our God.     Isaiah 40:3

This is one of the Daily Office readings appointed for today in this second week in Advent. 

On a trip to the Holy Land last year, I was aghast at the vastness of the Judean Wilderness.  Yet it was from near this very place that Isaiah wrote, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  

It is hard work to make straight paths in the desert. The land is inhospitable. The day I took this photograph, it was 114 degrees outside – and very dry. Construction crews are not willing to work out here. The single road is ancient, the same one Isaiah would have used. It curves and winds through paths of least resistance.

Advent invites us to this work. If we look at the parched desert as a metaphor for our lives, we are called to prepare a way for the Lord, to prepare a place for God to reside in the midst of our lives, as parched and cluttered and messy as they may be. Advent begs us to make a hospitable place in our lives for God.

How can we create an oasis for God in our lives? Prepare a way! 

Thomas Merton December 10th

                                                                               

“Peace Amidst Chaos” by Timothy Mietty

Today, the church remembers Thomas Merton, a contemplative Trappist monk and prolific writer. Notably, Merton is remembered for his ability to remain fully engaged in the world even though he lived in a cloistered monastery.  

At Advent, we are called to similar work.  We are called by the secular world to jump into the fray of Christmas preparations, of frenetic shopping and over-indulgence, and yet, we are called to be contemplative too. How do we find peace amidst chaos?

Advent invites us to consider our lives and how we live them.  Advent invites us to consider how being followers of Jesus Christ affects our lives and our place in the world.

Merton put it this way:

             “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.” 

How do we find peace amidst chaos? 

How can people of faith remind the world that peace is available and accessible?

Advent Reflections: Wonder

They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.  Psalm 78:11     

In Advent we are called to wonder about what has been and what is yet to come.  We remember and the birth of our Lord and Savior and we remember that he promised to come again. Advent calls us to pause and wonder. 

God sent his precious Son into the world FOR THE LOVE OF US! 

In spite of our often lukewarm response, the fact that God sent his only Son into the world FOR US is a constant source of wonder to me. As we anticipate His coming again, Advent also begs these questions:

How do we respond? How will we respond?

Take time this week to wonder. 

Clement of Alexandria - December 5th

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”      1 Kings 19: 11-13

Clement was  Greek philosopher from the 2^nd century. He lived at a confusing time where philosophy, science, and religion were all competing with each other. It was also the time of gnosticism, the belief that salvation was only available to a few lucky folks who had the right knowledge, or secret, of “getting into heaven.”  Among all these competing “voices” Clement believed Truth could be found.

We live in similar times.  There are the neo-atheists who believe that God simply “isn’t.” There are some religious folk who don’t believe in dinosaurs or evolution.  There are scientists hoping to find a man behind a curtain who calls himself “God.” And, yes, there are those Christians who believe that one simple, specific prayer is the key to “getting saved.”

Clement studied philosophy religion, science, and he was a Christian.  Somehow, in the midst of all the competing voices, Clement heard that “still small voice” that is God.  For us, Clement becomes a role model because he reminds us that in all the competing voices of the season, there is only one for whom we should listen:  that still, small voice that comes to us in the silence. 

As we enter the season of Advent, be aware of the cacophony: the advertisements that exhort us to shop early, the neighbors who remind us to decorate mightily, and our children whose lists grow ever longer.  
Then pause. Breathe. Listen. For that is the work of Advent.

Advent Reflections - Francis Xavier (1506 - 1552)

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; 
for those living in the land of deep darkness, a light as dawned.     Isaiah 9:2                                           

Today, December 3^rd, the church remembers Francis Xavier, a Spaniard of noble birth born in 1506. At the age of twenty, Francis traveled to Paris to study. There, he because friends with another young Spanish nobleman, Ignatius of Loyola, and together the two young men founded the Society of Jesus, also known as The Jesuits.

One of the themes of Advent is the theme of waiting in darkness, and Francis is a fine example of one who knew how to do that. Francis became the first Jesuit missionary and traveled around the world to India, Indonesia, Japan and China. Not knowing the languages, the cultures, or the religions of those he met, Francis spent the rest of his life making the Gospel of Christ known to people in far off places. He never returned home.   

• ·        Imagine taking a voyage around the world with no directions, no airplanes, no Internet. 
• ·        Imagine leaving all that you know and find familiar.
• ·        Imagine the darkness you might feel.  

How would you get there? How would you manage? What would you hold onto? 

As we travel through the season of Advent together, consider darkness – and consider the coming of the Light of Jesus Christ.