Dec 9, 2012 Advent 2

Luke 3:1-6

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

   “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
   make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
   every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
   the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

“Preparing for Christmas”

Our preparation for Christmas is distracted by the litany of commercialism and the litany of indulgence.  To offset this we need to “discern what is best” about this celebration by going deeper and deeper into the mystery which is Christmas.

This means we do things which enable us to love more, for Christmas is love.

The measure of how successful our Christmas has been is not in how exhausted we are at the end of the celebration,  but how excited we are about living Christmas all year long as we share the mystery of God’s love.

The word repent is an appropriate word for our Christmas preparation.  A careful look inward is a necessary part of “discerning what is best and pure and blameless”,  what is “ filled with righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.”

This is what Advent is all about.  Getting ready!  When I am ready, I am more able to experience, more able to see.  Ironically, I can also be more spontaneous, more open to chance; call it planned spontaneity, prepared enough to be free to be spontaneous.

A song writer once said,  “Tunes simply pop into my head all the time.
But of course, your head has to be arranged to receive them!”

Louis Pasteur,  “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

We celebrate Christmas because something great has happened and something great is going to happen!  Some unexpected things are going to happen, human things, like getting the wrong number and have a visit with a lonely old person, or being touched by a need in someone's life and then doing something to meet that need.

God has some surprises in store for those who are ready to see them.
Are we prepared to see the salvation of God happening in our midst, in with and through us?  Are our hearts and heads “arranged to receive” the love which is Christmas?