“People Get Ready”
Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church-UCC
Luke 3:1-6
December 9, 2018

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ²during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”    – Luke 3:1 & 2ⁱ

The story by Sholem Aleichem about Tevye and his five daughters became a block buster Broadway musical called, Fiddler on the Roof. It tells the story of a little town, Anatevka in the Russia of 1905,  As the musical comes to its climax, a pogrom has been unleashed by the Czar and Jews are forced to leave the town they had known all their lives. At one point, one of the men of the village asks the Rabbi a question: “Rabbi, we have waited all our lives for the Messiah to come. Wouldn’t this be a good time?” The Rabbi tells him, “We will have to wait for him somewhere else. Meanwhile, let’s start packing.”

This Advent we too must wait. We affirm that God is not done yet, that the Christ child waits to be born again and that we must prepare our hearts, minds and souls that we not miss this in-breaking of God. I’m right, right? Have I stated the purpose of Advent correctly? If so, then this is how a contemporary version of today’s text would be written:

In the second year of the reign of Donald Trump, when Paul Manafort was the former campaign chairperson and Michael Cohen Trump’s former fixer, when Rex Tillerson was the former Secretary of State and Donald and Ivanka Trump were personal advisors to the President, the word of the Lord came to one who preached a baptism of repentance.

Long ago, far away, John was sent to prepare the world for the coming of the Christ. Are we not being asked to do the same? The words he delivered to his era are those we must hear today:

“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

In the midst of a crooked world, we must set it straight.

But wait. Isn’t that asking too much of us. Is not the task too large for any one individual to accomplish? And where would you suggest we start? Seriously, where?

I think I know. We start where John started. He did not travel to the citadel of political power or seek out the power elite of his day. He started in the wilderness of nothing with a message that required personal transformation. So let us do the same and see what John is saying to us personally as we ready ourselves for Christ.

First, we are to make the way of the Lord straight. I take that to mean “clear,” we are to make the way of the Lord clear to contemporary men and women. How are you doing with this? Have you made it clear? I was at the Giving Fair yesterday. It was a collection of various non-profit agencies who came together in a common fundraiser and it served as a place where people could go and get a sense of all of the great work that is being done to help folks in need. Elder services, mentorship programs, employment assistance, providing food for the hungry, support for those struggling with addiction – these are just some of the work being done in the Bradford area. And a number of our church’s members helped within these organizations. It was a tribute to the human decency in our midst and I know that it was of God, that these agencies are doing the work of Christ – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the aged and sick.

The liberal within me wants to say that is enough. The work of God is being done. But does doing the work make the way of the Lord straight? How can I know I am on the right path if there is no one to tell me this is the way of God? So we do the work, but too often give no glory to the One who has shown us the way. My friends, the time is now to tell your friends that not only is good work being done, it is the way of God. To remain silent is to cloud rather than make clear the way of God.

Second, every mountain and hill is to be made low. You may be confronted by a mountain of loss, pain, loneliness, envy, bitterness and strife. You may know someone for whom just such a mountain blocks his or her path to joy. God cannot be fully found until the mountain is moved, until it is cast into the sea. I wish I had a wand I could wave and remove such burdens. I cannot, but faith can. Listen to the voice of one who lived it, who can say it far better than I can even dream: (Please copy and open the link below)

With faith, the mountain you face can become a molehill you can step over. With faith, what was once crooked can become straight. With faith, we can prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts and find that Christ has come yet again in the most unexpected way and we live out all of our tomorrows in a new found hope. May it be so. Let us pray….