Advent: "Prepare the Way of the Lord..."

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord...'" (Matthew 3:1-3)

When I was about 14 or 15, I remember my father shaking me awake one Saturday morning. He said, "The pastor is coming to talk to you, and he wants to meet with you in your room." Well, my room was a typical teenager's wreck, and so his announcement threw me into a panic. I jumped in the shower, dressed, then scrambled to pick up, put away, sweep, mop, make the bed, and get everything spotlessly ready for the pastor to visit. When I was done (and sweating the arrival that could come at any moment), I went upstairs to my mother and father, and asked breathlessly, "When is the preacher coming?" My dad just grinned, and said, "We were kidding." He was happy. On a Saturday morning, his teen-aged son was up and awake, and the bedroom chores were actually completed. Needless to say, I was not pleased.

Well, Advent is about One who comes in the Incarnation, and this time, no one is kidding. It truly is time to awaken, put on new clothes, and prepare the way of the Lord.

The Advent of the Christ has a peculiar emotional mixture involved. On the one hand, it bears all the comforting and joyous emotions of the infant birth of the Christ, yet on the other hand "the day of the Lord" is described in both the Old and New Testaments as a day to dread. It is associated with earth-shaking events, with storms of wind and water, with anxiety, and with destruction of old structures. Christ's coming is simultaneously a time of confrontation with our slumbering souls or dirty rooms, and of comfort in the mercies shown us and of joy in the new world that awaits us in God's realm.

So when we mature a bit, we recognize that the season of Advent presents us with the challenge of accepting Christ into our world, and even preparing the way for his entry, as an event and relationship which potentially changes everything for us by both opposing, and by healing, our sin. The soul tells its truth, admitting flaws and also confessing to giftedness. God takes such souls by the work of Christ--and transforms them into amazingly beautiful human beings.

As this season progresses, the emphasis of the Sunday and daily readings shifts from warnings and prophecies toward more immediate experiences of grace, delight and hope. May this be true in your life. At first, Advent is a rough wake-up call and a summons to cleanse and prepare the heart. Yet as time goes by, the path becomes more smooth for every trembling heart.

Blessings in Christ in this paradoxical season of intermingling confrontation and hope.