It’s beginning to look a lot like Advent, everywhere you go… Everywhere you go, people are eagerly waiting for the ChristChild! Not really? Our dreams are of a White Christmas, of other-worldly visions of peace and good will, of bucolic Bethlehem and alien star-gazers. Scriptures for this Third Sunday in Advent help span the tinseled canyon between nostalgic dreams and a solid promise of God’s New Age.
Whoever reads Isaiah 35:1-10 needs to be your most dramatic dream-spinner. No monotone can do justice to “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God….'” For THEN the blind, the deaf, the lame and the stammerer will be made whole! Arid lands will be abundantly watered, and no wilderness will restrain the pilgrim. The approach of God’s ultimate plan will be visible and audible.
James’ message speaks to our cultural need for immediate gratification: “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.” (5:7) It takes a whole long summer for my tomatoes to finally ripen; but that’s never stopped me from telling all ‘n’ sundry about how the vines are stretching up, and the burgeoning number of flowers. Tenders of God’s garden can and should talk about what’s growing, about promises of harvest!
John the Baptizer was pretty sure; but he just had to know! “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:2ff) Jesus sent his crowd, saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Glad you asked, John! We were all wondering, even though few of us are still looking. Mark E. Yurs muses, “It is easy to believe in God in the bright sunlight when all is joyful and free, but let the iron doors of difficulty slam shut, and doubt is there in the darkness.” (FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:71) What’s to be seen today? Pastor Michelle always begins our formal time of prayer by asking the congregation, “Where have you seen God at work this week?”
I’m challenged, this Advent, to keep my eyes open. I find this very hard: born a cynic, I forget to bleed when Santa Claws. Lord, help me to see and marvel at what’s growing in your garden! “My gracious master and my God, assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of thy name.”
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My thoughts about lessons assigned for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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