PERSISTENT PREPARATION

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. Marie Sheldon

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

December 7, 2003

Text: “’Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Luke 3:4b)

Scripture Passage: Luke 3:1-6

Over the past several weeks, Harundale Church people who live in Severn have been faced with a wild array of flashing signs on Quarterfield Road near the 97 exits. Contractors are in the process of widening the road, and every day there seems to be a slightly different traffic pattern – as well as long lines of vehicles waiting to go in one direction or another. The Department of Transportation’s persistent preparation will pay off someday – hopefully soon – when the construction is over and people can re-claim their road with ease.

That little scenario of real life on a road in Maryland came to mind when I first looked at our Gospel lesson for this second Sunday of Advent. In a way, road construction stands at the center of that lesson also. There’s no Department of Transportation, of course – but there is a solitary figure named John the Baptist, who took it upon himself to persistently prepare for some road construction of his own. He called people to repent so their sins might be forgiven. Luke tells us this happened in order to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah had to say about the roads in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight . . . the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.”

Isaiah sounds a bit like a traffic control person himself. The difference is that when the construction Isaiah was talking about ended, people wouldn’t have better access to an interstate. They’d have better access to the salvation offered by God through Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist was there to persistently prepare the way. He was a visionary, who saw the ideal in his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. God had somehow let John in on the good news that Jesus was going to be the one who could re-connect people with their Creator. Oh, there would be some impediments along the way. People would want to continue to sin, to be selfish, to put their own needs and wants before those of God and their neighbor. But John wasn’t going to let those tendencies stop him. He would preach. He would baptize. He would prepare the way so that, as Isaiah wrote, “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

We, too, are called to be persistent in our preparation. The season of Advent is a time when we prepare for Christmas – not simply in the sense of decorating or buying gifts – not even in the sense of remembering the story of the Christ Child born in Bethlehem two millennia ago. We are called to prepare as John prepared. We are called to reconstruct the roads of our lives so that, as Isaiah wrote, “all flesh shall see the salvation of our God.”

There will be personal impediments for us, too. All of us have our personal weaknesses – weaknesses that preclude our Christian spirit from shining through as brightly as it might. Advent is a time for us to think about the areas of our lives that are like the crooked or bumpy roads Isaiah writes about. What is it about our lives that keeps us from seeing the salvation of God as clearly as we should? Are there parts of our lives that we should smooth out so that others can see God’s salvation through us?

There are also impediments for us as a church. Modern voices have called us to look at our society – voices like Martin Luther King or Bishop Desmond Tutu or Mother Theresa. These people have been solitary figures – much like John was – calling society to repent of its racism, its neglect of the poor, its prejudice against people with AIDS. They, too, have prepared the way for God’s salvation by urging people to accept each other in spite of their color or creed or economic status.

Yes, Advent is a time for persistent preparation. In the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, there is time for community prayer, and there is also time for quiet reflection. During some of those quiet times, I urge you to think about the roads that make up the maze of your life – the roads that lead to family, the roads that lead to friends, the roads that lead to whatever work you do, the roads that lead to church. What road repair can you do to better prepare the way for God’s salvation? How will you go about getting that repair done?

Be persistent in your preparation, whatever it may be. If God’s salvation is made clearer to only one other person because of you, all of that road repair will be worth it.

Amen and thanks be to God.