It’s the second Sunday of Advent. Light a candle for Peace! Meeting this week at church Sunday 11 am for a worship service, and Tuesday 5:30 to 7 for Food Pantry. The message for this week considers these words from Isaiah “prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
2nd Sunday of Advent Message “God’s Highways”
Call to Worship: Isaiah 40:1-11
40 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
9 You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Invitation, Prayer Concerns, and Offering: Father in Heaven, today we thank you beyond our ability to comprehend your gifts. Thank you for our very being. Today Lord we pray that you might light the way of this year’s Advent by gracing those in need or in sadness showing us how to share of ourselves. In these things we pray.
Amen!
Message Reading: Mark 1:1-8
1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”-
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Message: “God’s Highways”
Today marks the second Sunday of this season of Advent (God among us), which reminds us each year of the things that are really important in our lives. Not junk, stuff, and bling, but reflecting on His glory in the highest, and halleluiah together we sing.
Knowing that our desire to pass by the shiny stuff for the enduring things of God is not always in the forefront of our thoughts. In fact, our inconsistency in doing the right thing, seems to be our common consistent trait in the human condition. Quite unlike our Lord who irrespective of Old Testament or New Testament, offers a message of reconciliation, rebirth, and union with God and His family uniformly to all takers.
Again like last week, scripture reflects its consistency in revealing the challenges people have with sin, and God’s answer to those challenges. The wonderful news is, by acknowledging, repenting, and applying lessons learned, human beings have a future in walking with and in the Lord. And it doesn’t matter what has happened in your past, God is concerned with our future.
Last week we identified that this place of ours is a mess. With election debates that sow discord and angst into the wee hours of the morning every morning, coupled with issues of social fairness and justice accompanied with the unrest and violence dominating TV, radio, and social discussion. The international scene is just as bleak with tyranny marching onward in many places threatening Christians and other faith-walks, coupled with a pandemic that has scarred the heck out of our vulnerable across our planet. We need Advent!
And yet, if I only focus on the world’s issues, and blame all this stuff on our rotten society, unfair laws, and social history, I run the risk of only placing the blame outside of myself, without looking within for accountability and solutions with the Lord. In other words, the world is a mess and I am a mess, so what do I need to do to straighten out my life so that it reflects a Faithwalk in the Lord? A highway of God!
Our call to worship expresses this new walk available to all people who accept the invitation of the Lord. Isaiah 40 begins with the need to “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem”, as Jerusalem is representing all of us in sin, and that have paid a price for our sin. Whether we realize the price of sin or not, and God is bringing those who accept salvation back into the fold. And then the poetry of Isaiah really takes off at verse three:
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
This new straight Highway of God in our lives has been available all along and Isaiah right out of the Old Testament reflects God’s consistency to you now, in offering a relationship with Him. For me this Good News of God speaks of a new dynamic available in our lives. Freedom!
For all of us who have battled addiction, which means all of us, because you are an addict even if you do not know it. If you struggle with sin, especially the denial of sin, you are in a fight. Granted your fight might not be a hot one right now, but all of us are struggling, some just below the surface with our battles, our addictions to sin.
Well, this new Highway of God represents what a walk with the Lord can do in your life. For me when Isaiah says:3 A voice of one calling:
I am hearing the Lord call my name, and:
(“In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.)
That wilderness was me living on my terms, and the desert was my spiritual life, and my lack of caring for others. When I replaced God for other things beginning with my selfish desires of pleasing me!
But what God is doing in our lives is making:
(4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.)
The low lows that the reality of our sin life produced in us, and the high highs fueled by our enslaved addictions, you name your poison: envy, gossiping (AKA teambuilding), nicotine, shopping (for anything/aquisitions), alcohol, hiking, biking, and sleeping. Drugs (legal & not), book browsing, vacationing, judging, and being in charge (which you are not), are all things that can addict you. Anything you place before God, your family, health, and common sense!
I said you name your poison, because my job is not to judge you, it’s not even to afflict you, it’s to care for you and to remind you, the Lord loves you, regardless of you, in spite of you. Me too!
So, the leveling and straitening of your highway with God, your very relationship with Him, well, that is unique to you. That is the Good News of the Gospel this Advent Season; God is not only with us, He wants you, not you to be me or to be anyone else but the you that rests within your grasp as you want it. And when each of us has taken God up on His invitation, Isaiah states:
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Kind of incredible how an Old Testament Prophet can witness to us in the here and now. Isaiah goes on to teach us that our lives are short on this earth but there is more to life when we are in the Lord. And he finishes with verse eleven stating:
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
You are never all alone even when it seems like the world has punched you in the stomach, and it seems like you are living one setback after another. I know that place where you go in your dark thoughts. More importantly, so does the Lord! Get off that ride! The abyss express.
That ride is even lonelier at Christmas time, which is why Advent is so important. As God helps me straighten my Faithwalk, His Highway, I start to realize that it’s my attitude that has been making my life a mess. Pinging from one thing to another.
You see, we try to fill the emptiness that we feel deep within, with more junk. You know what I’m talking about. That thing that is claiming more and more of you. The more down you feel, the more you try to fill it with whatever is trying to own you. Again, name your challenge; trashing others, Budweiser, judging others, Johnny Walker (any color), fun size Snickers bars (by the way all sizes are fun if you like them!), Doritos (fun size still applies), used book stores (I’m working on it), binge watching a Leave it to Beaver marathon (or any marithon), or every Clint Eastwood movie ever made (except Paint Your Wagon, which should not have been made. But now I’m judging again).
With every hour of that stuff, it seems like there is less of me to reclaim. And yet the remedy is always at hand. Advent reminds us that we have work to do with the Lord to prepare for meeting the Lord.
Working on the Highway of God, my Faithwalk, is what today’s “Message Reading” from Mark is all about. It’s what John the Baptist was referring to when he called out for a generation to repent. That time is now, and each generation has lived this invitation each and every Advent. Searching deeply within for meaning in this life.
Yes the Gospel of Mark reinforces God’s message in Isaiah’s time by reinviting humanity to God’s family. Mark 1:1-5 instructs:
1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”-
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
And the offer to work on, walk on, and live, on God’s Highway, which is your Faithwalk in Him, is offered again today in this Advent (God is with us) season. And like each generation that has come before us, we are given by the creator of everything, free choice.
As I said earlier, today my intent is not to guilt-ridden anyone. If it were, I would have to begin with me and we would be here for days reviewing my own junk. That’s not bragging, its dealing with my stuff head on and enjoying the freedom in God’s truth of forgiveness. No, my intent today, is to share the joy of the Gospel, Good News with you, and to remind you that you are not alone!
By joining God’s royal family, you have inherited the universe. A fact that our Church will be exploring for the rest of out time here in this life, and I extend the invitation to anyone searching for something better.
So, as we come together this Advent to clean things up in our lives and community, in preparation for celebrating “God Among Us”, our Faithwalks become more focused, straight and level with the Lord’s guidance. Individually we invest ourselves more and more into living on God’s Highways.
My this week be a joy for you as you begin to reflect on His gifts in the midst of blink and blong that will fad away, but His light showing you the way, will never fade.
Amen!
Benediction, Based on 23 Psalm.
1 May the Lord be your shepherd, and you not want.
2 May He make You lie down in green pastures,
leads you beside still waters,
3 May he restore your soul.
May He guide you on paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 Andeven though you walk
through the darkest valley,
May you not fear evil,
for He will be with you;
His rod and your staff,
May they comfort you.
5 May He prepare a table before you
in the presence of your enemies.
Anoint you head with oil;
your cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness, kindness and love will follow you
all the days of your life,
and may you will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever Amen!