One of the thoughts behind this late night bible study was that we would engage in a dialog through this medium. As I look back over the postings on the website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LateNightBibleStudy/ for those who are wondering where to find it) I see that there have been times when a few would respond, but it isn’t all that common. A few will send a response directly to me, but the rest don’t see it.
That’s OK really, there isn’t a dialog requirement to receive these email messages, or to pick up the printed copy in the Connection on Sunday mornings. It is written in a style that doesn’t really demand a response, I realize that. But the possibility is there for anyone to weigh in on a topic. Those who receive this via email, simply have to hit reply and everyone on the list will receive your insights. Those who read this on Sunday morning can also send an email to me (derekcw@aol.com) and ask me to add it to the conversation. Or drop me a note, or give me a call or stop me in the hallway. I’m open to response - positive or negative. Honest. At least I like to think I am.
I really do want to know what you think. I like to hear from readers or hearers. Any of us would like to know that the things we say or do are being received, responded to, thought about. I’ve often heard La Donna muttering under her breath "I don’t know why I keep talking to you people, no one listens to me anyway." This is usually after an unnamed teenager has neglected to pick up socks or take down dirty clothes or something like that ... for the 100th time.
We like to know we are being heard. We desire communication - two-way communication. Which means, of course, that we have to learn to listen as well as to speak. And maybe even listen more than we speak. What is that old cliche? God gave us two ears and one mouth...
I know Advent isn’t really about communication, yet when I read the passages for this week, I couldn’t help but hear that theme underneath. I think the proclamation is in part at least about hearing and being heard. Take a look:
Mark 1:1-8 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'" 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 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. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 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. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
John appears every advent to remind us that we haven’t been paying enough attention. He shouts to wake us up. He dresses oddly to capture our fascination. He storms up and down the river bank asking us to take the plunge. He doesn’t seem to be here to listen. He is hear to talk. To announce. To shout. A one way communication, you would think.
Except he is asking for something from us. He is asking us to join the road crew. We’ve got streets to level and curves to straighten. Whether we think in personal terms about cleaning up our own hearts and bodies, straightening out our behavior patterns; or in communal terms of justice as we make straight the pathways to wholeness that have bent in ways that keep certain people out - either way there is work to be done. A response needs to be made. John wants us to be participants in our own salvation, the one who comes doesn’t overwhelm us, doesn’t transform us against our will. We are partners, contributors in the conversation of hope and transformation.
Yet, as my kids will argue, it is all about marching to the tune of the one in charge. Right? It is not about conversation, it is about obedience. About following orders. Get to work, clean this up, take care of that, do this, don’t do that, and on and on and on. Hardly a two way street, some argue. This is the Lord’s highway we are straightening. And we all know that it is the Lord’s way or the highway! Right?
Not according to Isaiah. We have to get the whole picture. This conversation doesn’t begin with Jesus or with John. It began long before that. Jesus was a response. Listen to this:
Isaiah 40:1-11 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 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. 3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 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. 5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." 6 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. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 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!" 10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 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.
God heard the cry, and now comes with a response. God has listened and now speaks, and the word God speaks is Jesus. Oh, that wasn’t the word that the first hearers of Isaiah’s words heard. They heard home. The people of God were in exile, cut off from the land they loved, the land that God have promised to them. The land where God took up residence. They felt alone, cast adrift in an unfeeling, uncaring world. They cried out to God, they confessed that they had forgotten to live as God’s people and were now paying the price. Their society had begun to cater to power and influence and wealth and many suffered because of it. They forgot to look out for the ones on the margins and now they were all on the margins. The systems in which they had placed their trust no longer were strong enough to support the life they took for granted. So they cried out. And God heard.
And God will bring them home. Not necessarily to the home that they envisioned, but the home that God envisions. The community that God calls us to create. The relationships that fulfill us and connect us. This is the home we seek, all of us. And it is the home we find in Jesus. The child in the manger and the savior on the cross speaks of home to us. A home where we are loved and healed and heard.
The glory of Christmas is that while there is a silent night, there is a need to listen and to shut out the distracting noise of the world and our own brokenness, it is fundamentally a dialog.
The Lord’s highway is a two way street.
Shalom,
Derek
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