Prepare Ye the Way

As Christians we are beginning our journey through Advent.  It’s my favorite season of the church year.  It is a time that we prepare ourselves for the birth of Christ…something that has already happened in the past.  Yet, at the same time, we long for the day when Christ will come again…something that we anticipate will happen in the future.

When I think of Advent I think of the music of the season.  Yes, I know, I get criticized each year for not singing Christmas carols during Advent.  But, if we sing Christmas carols during Advent, when do we sing Advent hymns?  And, they are called “Christmas” carols aren’t they, not “Advent” carols.  Anyway, there are many meaningful and inspiring songs that are so true to the Advent themes of longing and anticipation and expectation of Christ’s “coming”, whether in the past or in the future, and I think we need to hear and sing them all.

The particular piece of music that is such a big part of Advent is “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”.  Now, I’m a child of the 60’s so I remember this song from Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar, but we all hear this phrase in countless choir anthems and cantatas each year. Strangely enough, the phrase originates in the Old Testament as Isaiah delivers God’s message to the exiled Israelites in Babylon.  We hear Isaiah say, “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places plain.’”  (Isaiah 40:3-4)

 Now, some scholars interpret this scripture as God’s call for people to clear away any obstacles so as to make their spiritual path ready for God’s presence, but when we look at the context we realize that what is really being said is that God, through Isaiah, wants to encourage God’s people exiled in Babylon to make the dangerous journey back to their homeland and that God will be with them to make the journey easier and safer than expected.

 Yet, the early Christian gospel writers, taking this scripture completely out of context, included it in the New Testament (Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, and Luke 3:4) and identified the “voice in the wilderness” as John the Baptist who preached repentance to prepare people for the “coming” of Jesus.  So, to sum up, John the Baptist preached that we need to repent to prepare our selves for God’s “coming” and Isaiah preached that we need to get “going” if we are to take full advantage of God’s promises.

Now, with this in mind, listen to the words of author Brian McLaren from his book Everything Must Change.  “When I think of Advent…it is as if we are waiting for the Christ to come to us.  Yet the word Advent comes from the Latin “advenio”, which literally means “to come to”.  We seem to spend a great deal of our time waiting for Christ to come to us.  Perhaps this Advent season we should consider we should be “coming to” Christ instead of waiting for Christ to come to us.”

So, what does it mean to “come to” Christ?  In 1 Thessalonians we hear, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts.”  So, the writer of 1 Thessalonians says that the only way to “come to” Christ is to “abound in love…for all”.

This Advent, perhaps we should spend a bit less time waiting and anticipating and expecting Christ to “come” to us…whether as a babe in a manger or as the victorious Christ who will reign over all creation…and spend more time getting going and “coming to” Christ as we practice love for all people.  Just think what a Christmas gift that would be to our world if all of us who are waiting for Christ this Advent would get “going” out into the world in love for all people in our strengthened hearts.

Pastor Paul