Isaiah 40:3-4 – A voice of one calling, “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.[1]
Well it probably won’t become a royal highway, but the Highway 100 extension project and Advent do seem to have at least a little in common. Rolling hills are being made level. Bridges extend over valleys and rivers. Intersecting streets are bypassed. And someday they will roll out the asphalt for smooth, efficient travels; and life (or at least commutes) will return to normal.
But this transportation project and Advent are really quite different. We know with some degree of certainty when this roadway will open. Advent is more like the “Coming soon…” sign on a vacant lot. Sure, we can see Christmas coming but Advent also looks beyond Christ’s birth through the mysterious darkness towards another time of “Emanuel” (Lord with us).
For many years I saw Advent as simply a preparation period for Christmas; a time to step back from the “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” shopping frenzy, a time to close my eyes to the joyous and dazzling lights and just reflect on the true significance of Christmas. I envisioned Isaiah and John the Baptist as the construction foremen directing the bulldozers and earth-movers to clear a path for Christ. But now as I move into the later years of my time on earth, I hear the voice in the wilderness cry, “Look farther! Look deeper!”
When the St. Andrew Men’s Chorus sings “Lost in the Night” (ELW #243), we typically omit verse #2 because it can be rather complex and sound a bit hopeless…
Shall those who have light no light let us borrow,
giving no heed to our burden or sorrow?
Will you help us soon? Will you help us soon?
While it seems straight-forward to read this text from the First Person as our personal plea to God, I’d like to have you reread it in the Third Person, perhaps as the plea of a cold, homeless family sheltering in the shadowy darkness of an overpass as you pass by above under the glow of street lights and twinkle of holiday decorations. Perhaps, as we wait for our Lord to come, we are being called to come down from our hills and lift others from the valleys, so that together we can cheer “Hosanna” and join the procession as Christ passes by.
Tis The Season!
David Krueger