“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Luke 3: 4b-6
Well, here we are at the start of a new year. I know what you may say: “We haven’t got to Christmas yet”! That is valid in the secular calendar, but we count time differently in the sacred. Advent is the beginning of the church’s year, not of the calendar year, the fiscal year, or the academic calendar year, but of the Christian new year. Here we are again, ready to start the cycle of praise and prayer centered first around the birth of our Lord. Advent offers a means to begin all over again!
The scriptures remind us we are to act and move and have our being in an Advent mindset that bathes the Christian imagination in visions of a healed alternative for the world. Our faith is centered in anticipation of Jesus, whose very person initiates a new beginning in the world. This is the time to stop looking back longingly for some sentimental past and instead look forward to the Promised One who makes possible transformation individually, in the community, and in society. Advent signals an invitation to live in holy ways so that we might recognize and praise the coming of wholeness to the world through justice and release and recovery of the hope often diminished in actions of brokenness experienced in everyday living. Christ comes to offer wholeness for the whole world. This is the crux of our Christian faith… Hope.
I have always been intrigued by John the Baptiser. Perhaps even a little put-off. Here is a character who is seemingly uncontrollable. Wild with passion and not afraid to act in ways that portray him as odd, not willing to settle for mediocrity. Someone who pushes limits takes chances and calls folk to live more deeply into their faith – preaching hope as if he embraced and believed in it. As I reflect, if I was honest, perhaps John the Baptiser is intimidating at times because he has thrown off the vanity of needing to be liked and accepted. Instead, he has taken on the mantle of urgency, wanting to see the world and those residing in it experience healing. John is a constant reminder that hope is not a domesticated state of mind. Hope camps out in odd places and may crop up at the worst possible times. Hope, Christian hope, does not settle. Christian hope, when authentically embraced and wildly proclaimed, wakes us up, stirs our imagination, and energizes our wide-awake dreams with the imaginative inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Clergy and Laity of the Capital District, let us live this coming year in the ways of the Wildman, John, and not shrink from proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, which extols the gift of salvation that yields abundant and eternal life and is declared with love. Let us herald God’s desire for justice, healing, and wholeness for all without shame and in humility. Let us be leaders of courage and conviction who align with the calling of Christ.
Prayer:
Come, Lord Jesus, confront me as a prophet, disturb my comfortableness, and ignite compassionate convictions for healing and justice, and by the power of thy Holy Spirit, compel me to live more deeply into the calling of grace-filled surrender and unflinching courageous hope. Amen.
