ISAIAH 40:1-11 PSALM 85:1-2, 8-13 2 PETER 3:8-15A MARK 1:1-8
The Advent month of December is one of the busiest and most challenging times of the year for us as Christians. If we are alert, every day we will see and feel profound conflicts between the intensely advertised enticements of American culture and the values of Jesus and God’s Kingdom. Every day, in dozens of little ways we choose whether we will blindly go along with expectations of American consumer values or choose to intentionally follow the way of Jesus that often puts us in direct conflict with the priorities of American culture.
Most of us are still beginners in learning how to live and work in this society and at the same time keep living in relationship with Jesus as the central controlling priority of our lives. Every 2nd Sunday of Advent, the Scriptures invite us to hear the story of John the Baptizer. John was a wild counter-cultural character who did not go along with the crowd. Scripture says he wore a garment of camel’s hair. In today’s dress code, he would probably have worn a biker’s leather jacket and chains, and his hair in a long ponytail. John was an “in your face guy” for God. He publicly criticized Herod, the governor of his state, when Herod started living with his brother’s wife. John didn’t have an ounce of political correctness in his body. He constantly confronted both powerful and weak, both rich and poor with the message of God.
In John’s day, the Roman army controlled Israel. Many Jews blamed all their problems on the Romans and the pagan values which they imposed on the Jewish people. But John’s message did not focus on the Romans and their values. John called people to take responsibility for their own choices - to repent, to change their own ways, so that they would be prepared for the coming of Christ, the Messiah God was sending to bring hope and a new way of life to the world.
Often we American Christians blame our secular, self-centered, consumer driven culture for many of the problems we face. But this morning in the wilderness of a global economic depression, the wilderness of job losses and home foreclosures, in the wilderness of addictions to drugs, alcohol, violence and sex, in the wilderness of fear and anxieties about the unknowns of our future, in the wilderness of temptations to buy and spend more than we or others really want or need, in the midst of this wilderness where we live, John the baptizer says: stop focusing on what’s going on around you.
Just look at your own lives and choices. In what ways are you preparing the way for Christ to come and bring hope, guidance, peace, change, healing into your lives and into the lives of others around you?
John knew that the power to change lives and change societies would come from Jesus. Jesus would fill people with the Holy Spirit, the power of God’s transforming wisdom and love. Jesus was and is eager to give his love and wisdom to any person who is willing to open their lives to the direction and guidance of God’s Word and Spirit. So how do we open ourselves to Jesus and his Holy Spirit this morning, each day this month, and for the rest of our lives?
We may not be in-your-face God-radicals, like John the Baptizer. Yet, in the context of our personalities and our daily lives, God is calling us to prepare the way for Christ to come through us into the challenges and problems we face and into the lives of people around us.
Let me suggest some spiritual exercise that can help us prepare the way for Christ’s coming. First, we need to remember every morning when we get up, that we are on this planet to fulfill a mission from God. You and I are not really in charge of our lives. We were not created to get up in the morning and do whatever we want. Some people begin each day with meditation as a way of surrendering their lives to God’s guidance. God created us and sent us into this world, at this time and place in history to live as representatives of God, to do the will of God each moment of each day, like Jesus did. God wants to speak and act in this society, in this generation, in this month, through you and me.
Second, if we are to fulfill our daily mission from God, we need to make time every day to get our directions from Christ. Every morning, we need to intentionally ask Jesus to help and guide us with all we will face during the coming day. We might imagine Jesus walking along side us throughout the day, wherever we go, always whispering words of guidance, breathing fresh energy into our weary bodies, reconnecting us with the deep peace of Christ who dwells in our hearts.
Third, we can receive additional guidance if we take time to read from the Bible each morning. The Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran Book of Worship both invite us to take a few minutes each morning for prayer and reflection on Scripture. We could use the lessons from Sunday or the daily scripture readings found in the back of the Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran Book of Worship, or we could read Forward Day by Day or some other short daily reflection on Scripture.
If we are to fulfill our mission from God, we need to check in daily with Christ, open ourselves to a fresh guidance from God’s Word and Spirit so that we can live our one-day-at-a-time mission, not relying on our own limited strength and wisdom, but relying on the help and guidance of God.
A fourth spiritual practice which helps us live our counter-cultural mission as followers of Jesus is to create little ways to remind ourselves during each day that we are constantly depending on Christ for help and guidance. I have one friend whose watch beeps every hour as a reminder to pray. I have another friend whose iPhone alarm goes off at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. to remind him to stop and pray. I know people who take a walk or a run at lunch and use their exercise time to refocus their day and their relationship with Jesus. I know people who have words or pictures in their homes and offices that they look at as reminders of God’s presence and guidance. Some people listen to CD’s of Christian music or inspirational podcasts while they are in the car to help them re-center on Christ. Others intentionally keep their car radio off so they use their car time to talk with and listen to Jesus. Others use their trips to the bathroom throughout each day as times to check in with God and reflect on how the day is going. What are your reminders during the flow of each day to keep you living in connection with Christ?
A final practice which helps us prepare the way for Christ to come and guide our lives is to have a person or small group of people we can talk with regularly about the joys and challenges of following Christ. None of us are smart enough to figure out how to follow Jesus all by ourselves. Life is too complex, our mission in this society is too demanding. We need to find spiritual friends with whom we can talk about how to keep Christ in the center during December, about how to enjoy the gifts of our culture without being destroyed by the toxic, self-focused elements of our society. We need friends we can ask to pray for us and for whom we can pray during the stresses and dilemmas of our lives. And Sunday worship, just being here together to receive a fresh transfusion of Christ into our lives through God’s word and sacraments, helps prepare us to live as Christ’s representatives during this week.
There is so much we don’t know about the future of our personal lives, the future of our nation, the future the world. But God reminds us this morning through both Isaiah and John that God is going before us, preparing the way. We aren’t in charge. Jesus is Lord and he will show us the way, one day at a time. And Jesus wants us to prepare the way for others we talk and work with every day, to recognize and experience the loving guidance that God wants to give them and give to all people.
How do we, like John the Baptizer prepare the way for Christ to come again to this planet? We prepare the way by nurturing our relationship with God through little daily spiritual practices, as I have outlined. And the real test of all these spiritual practices is how do we actually live each day. How do we handle drivers who cut us off and take the parking places we have been waiting for? How do we relate with other people: friends, strangers and enemies? Can our children and friends, co-workers and neighbors see that our primary love is for God and our neighbors by looking at the way we talk and act and spend our money and our time? Do others see that we are simplifying our lives so that we can help and serve others who are in more need than we are? These are challenging questions that Jesus and John the Baptist ask this morning.
Let’s close our eyes and in the silence be aware that Christ is with us, and that Christ loves each of us, right now, just the way we are, with all our imperfections.
Given all we have heard from Scripture this morning, what changes is Christ inviting you and me to make in our lives this week so that we, like John the Baptizer, can prepare the way for Christ to come into our lives and through us, come into our society and world?