Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Isaiah 40:1-11
‘Comfort!’ Says God through the prophet Isaiah. ‘There there. It’s ok…I’ve got you.’
These words were originally spoken to the people who had been conquered and taken into exile. To the people who had been driven out of their homes, stripped of all they owned, had all their titles, status, honour taken from them and made into slaves and refugees. These words were spoken to the people who wrote and sang the psalm about weeping by the rivers of Babylon, because of how hard it is to be told to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land.
Comfort, says God. It’s ok. I’ve got you. I know it has been hard, the last seventy years or so. You have suffered. And now, it is time to prepare a way through the wilderness, a smooth and straight path that you will travel back home without struggle, without stumbling.
The good news for the people is that God is near, and that God is kind. Like a shepherd he will tend you and care for you and he will lead you home.
Home is a very evocative word, isn’t it? At its best, home is safe and comfortable. It’s a place where you can relax, be yourself and be accepted for yourself. Home is a place where you are welcome. A place where you belong.
Roy says in his story how angry and lost he was, and how hard it was to come back from exile. Loneliness does that to a person. It can make nearness feel scary.
How do you respond when you hear that God is near, I wonder? Or when someone comes near to you with care and concern? It can be hard to receive this nearness. But advent tells us, gently and joyfully, that God is with us. And, amazingly, God’s glory is revealed when we also come near to each other. When we are with each other, alongside each other, showing each other the same tender care that we are receiving from God. It is nearness – God’s nearness – that brings us a sense of peace.
We lit the candle for peace this morning, and peace is desperately needed in our world. We feel it now, especially, with the daily news of wars and threats of war – but human beings are not naturally inclined towards peace. This is a stretch for us. Left to our own devices, we are restless, anxious, competitive, and envious.
On Christmas morning, the glad tidings of the angels is that a new king is born, and that this is a sign of what God is up to – bringing a peaceable kingdom of love, joy and hope within our reach. This is the restoration of all things, this is the way God brings us home, welcomes us in, assures us we belong. It’s not just for some of us. It’s for all of creation. It’s here, and it’s still to come in all its fullness. But, we cannot reach it alone.We cannot bring it among us. We cannot make it happen inside us.
We need help. We need God to help us, and we need to help each other. We also need to hear the words of comfort…it’s ok. I’ve got you. And we need to practice saying those words to one another – to every other that God brings your way.
We pray the peaceable kingdom in – we receive it – and then we speak it. Let’s pause together in prayer, and listen for what the Spirit is saying to you and to the church.
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way
Mark 1:1-8
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'”
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
This reading is about preparation, about making ready. Earlier this week I met a couple of friends for dinner at the St Heliers Bistro. The service was quite awful, and after we’d eaten our mains, our waiter cleared most of the table and then never came back. Did we want dessert or coffee? Too bad!
Once it was clear we weren’t getting anything else, I invited the others back to my place for tea. When we walked in the door I realised that although my house wasn’t horribly untidy, it wasn’t as tidy as it would have been if I’d known folks would be coming over later.
I was not prepared.
Later in the week, we hosted another set of friends, these ones I did prepare for, not only did I make sure we had a clean and tidy space to sit together, we had candles, nibbles, and a variety of beverages. I had also given my guests some soul food, offered for reflection and prayer before we met so that our conversation was rich, flowing with laughter and some tearful moments, too, as sadness was also part of the stories we told that night.
On the first occasion, my lack of preparation definitely affected how I was able to be present. And my careful preparations later in the week gave me a sense of comfort and ease so that I could show up not just with others, but also for them. The first work of preparation is cleaning up, and that’s as true about your lounge as it is about your life. Cleaning up is part of the intentional work of advent and of lent. It is the stance and the practice of these seasons.
John the Baptist calls us to clean up not as an end in itself, but as preparation for what comes next…which is growth.
So, if your most important relationships are the lounge of your life, what have you left lying around that you need to clean up? Perhaps a habit of holding grudges. Perhaps a habit of interrupting. Perhaps a habit of holding back. Perhaps a habit of exploding. What are the ways you negatively impact other people by what you say or do? What are the ways you hurt others by what you fail to say, refuse to do?
This Christmas, you are called to prepare for the Prince of the peaceable kingdom to be at home with you, so that you can be comforted by God’s nearness.
And so, begin by cleaning up.
Saint Peters Presbyterian Church 