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Today’s readings from the book of the prophet Malachi and the Gospel according to Luke contain many familiar words … and especially if you are well-acquainted with the opening movements of Handel’s great oratorio: Messiah. Certainly, as I hear these words, Handel’s music runs through my mind …
Of course, those of us who do know Messiah have to be careful! Handel’s librettist, Charles Jennens, did not use the same translation of scripture as we use in our churches today … This means that we often stumble as the words of scripture conflict with the torrent of Handel’s masterpiece.
But … in those stumbles lie a warning for us all … Those stumbles remind us to focus carefully and prayerfully on the scripture we hear and read …
- Scripture should never be taken for granted …
- The powerful words of scripture should never be treated with the contempt of over-familiarity …
- And … we should never encase those precious words, treating them as though they are exhibits in a private museum …
- We should always see the words of scripture (all of them) as alive and inspiring.
Among the familiar words in today’s gospel reading, Luke reminds us of the words of the prophet Isaiah when he speaks of:
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’.
During this season of Advent, these words are not just an affirmation of the role to be played by John the Baptist as a forerunner and herald for the mission and ministry of Jesus …
They are also an invitation for us to join in the mission to Prepare the way of the Lord.
We are ALL called to prepare the way of the Lord in our own hearts …
and we are called to prepare the way of the Lord in the hearts and lives of those who are struggling to recognize and understand the true meaning of the coming season of Christmas.
The season of Advent is certainly important in the Church’s calendar
as a season of preparation …
and as a state of mind.
Advent is a countdown to Christmas … but its primary focus has nothing to do with spending large amounts of money on food and presents.
Advent is the season during which we are called to make present again the miraculous event for which we should be preparing … the birth of Christ.
Advent is a season during which our excited anticipation should be driving us into good works … into acts of love and charity … and … into deeper spiritual reflection.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus entered the time line of human history to proclaim and to witness to the long-awaited coming of God’s reign on earth.
Through the birth of Jesus the Kingdom of God became a reality … it is no longer just a promise!
Christians pray … as they were taught by Jesus … Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Praying that prayer … if we truly mean it … lays upon us the duty of amending our words and our actions in a way that enables that Godly Kingdom to come about in its richest fullness.
Human beings have always struggled with the apparent conflict that exists between God’s will and the demands of human existence.
To help give new focus in our lives, today we are invited to consider the prophetic words and actions of John the Baptist.
The message of John is really quite simple … he tells us to Repent!
Over the passage of time, the word repent has come to be seen as being solely associated with regret and deep sorrow … But repent really means to turn around … to follow another path … to change!
John’s call to repentance should be seen as nothing less than an invitation to travel in a new direction … a direction that points away from our very human tendency to look inward and to focus on our own well-being … on our own need to be the ‘one in charge’!
John the Baptist’s call to repentance is a wake-up call for all of us who do nothing in our lives other than sit and wait for it all to come to us.
God’s call, as it is articulated by John the Baptist, is not for the faint-hearted …
- God’s call is unpredictable …
- God’s call is exciting …
- AND God’s call is never designed to conveniently coincide with the way we would prefer to live our lives!
God’s call is manifest in the moving of the wind, and in the bird-like freedom of the moving of the Holy Spirit … God’s call carries all the potential danger of the naked flames of Pentecost!
In this holy season … as in every Advent … we are being offered the opportunity to pause and to reflect on the journey we are taking through this life …
We are also being invited to make sure that we are moving in the direction that Jesus has set for us … and to recognize that we not living lives that are completely faithful to the message of Christ’s incarnation.
And so, this Advent, let us not get caught up in the headlong rush towards a commercial Christmas …
Rather, let us anticipate and prepare for the joy of the coming of the Christ-child by praying for God’s guidance and strength in our lives, in order that we might hear the call of John the Baptist …
one crying in the wilderness …
one urging us to Repent and Prepare the way of the Lord.
Amen.