Finding a Way Home

I’m a city guy; I don’t know anything about a Wilderness.  The nearest time I met with one was in early-marriage when we got turned around in our VW Beetle in a strip-mining operation near Carbondale PA.  We drove through a confusing maze of dirt tracks looking for a way out–at first it was an adventure, then it got to be a less-than-funny puzzle, and as the sun went further & further beyond the hills, a desperate quest for the Way Out.  ANY way out.  Finally we happened upon a shallow creekbed and drove downstream–did I say that it was a Beetle?–until we met with what passed for a road…  Readings for this Third Week of Advent speak about finding a way through the wilderness; and speak to the many confused by unfamiliar terrain in their hearts and spirits.

We begin with words of hope given by the Prophet Isaiah to those transported to Bablylon, 35:1-10.  He says that the glory of the Lord will yet cause the desert to flower and rejoice with singing.  “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God….[God] will come and save you.'”  Then again, a highway will be found in the wilderness, with no wild beast or danger there.  “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing…”  This poetry literally drips with Grace, and should be read in worship with a sense of delicious fulfillment.

James 5:7-10 is a brief call to patient waiting (who wants to do THAT?).  Evidently the restoration of the wilderness is a process often buried under headlines of the day.  Perhaps the duty of the Advent Christian is to guide others who haven’t yet appreciated the story to mark the oases amid the sand dunes.  And while we’re waiting, don’t grumble but remember other prophets!

Is this Jesus the Real Thing?  The question comes from John the Baptizer, according to Matthew 11:2-11, but is an eternal question of those who’re imprisoned and need reassurance.  Jesus replies with notes about the visibility of Advent:  “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them”.  He then extolls John for his message in the desolate places to those who could put their comfort behind them.  They too were finding a way home through the wilderness.

Bruce C. Birch, in FEASTING on the WORD (A 1:53) reminds us that “the transformed way through the wilderness is also the sign of God’s impending new age, when all that is less than whole is restored and made new….the coming of God’s Kingdom is signaled by reversals in the world’s priorities and understanding.”  Even those most prone to the tapestries of power can be humbled as the world lurches toward God’s fulfillment.

God bless us every one.                              Horace Brown King

My travels with scripture readings for the upcoming weekend can be enjoined every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com