Mal. 3:1-4; Philip. 1:3-11; Lk. 3:1-6]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
What does it mean, to prepare, to repent?
How do we know when we’re ready?
John the Baptist might well be the prime example of preparation.
He’s a vanguard, representing the call to a new, altered life, to a new, changed direction.
Now, John was by no means the only ‘raging prophet’ -some would say ‘raging lunatic’- to run around the countryside of 1st c. Palestine, urging people to mend their ways, encouraging many to rethink their attitudes, while scaring the heebie-jeebies into many others. Under normal circumstances we might even have never heard of him, with his camel hair coat, insulting the religious authorities of his day.
But he was Jesus’ cousin, and this got him a mention in the New Testament, which in turn guaranteed him a place in history.
And then we have Malachi, another prophet, many centuries older, mostly unknown, underrated, more demure in his prophethood, certainly less ‘loud’ than John.
He lived during the same period as Nehemiah and Ezra, and his is the last book of what we call the Old Testament, it’s literally the end of an era.
Malachi too encourages us to wake up, to be prepared, to become refined.
In our way of thinking, preparation often means working towards a certain goal in order to get something or get somewhere, to be rewarded.
Preparation can bring excitement, looking forward to an event or a visit perhaps.
Preparation can mean nerves and stress and even anxiety.
Imagine if you will, that you’re preparing for a test or an exam at school.
You’ve been told when this test or exam is going to take place, so you know exactly how much preparation time you have. Leading up to this test the teacher might remind you of the date, or there might even be smaller tests in advance giving you some idea of how much revising you still need to do. You might even get time off in order to revise and prepare.
Finally, the day of the exam arrives. Expectations are high.
You take the test or you present your work.
You might have some idea of how it went, but you’ll have to wait for the official results to come in.
More waiting, more stress, or perhaps you’re pretty confident, or perhaps you don’t really care.
And then the result, the verdict arrives. Relief? Disappointment?
Life’s one big succession of stress, very often there seems to be no time to rest, no time to stop and catch our breath.
Even now in the weeks leading up to Christmas, with decorations and invitations and gift wrapping.
It feels like an endless stream of obligations, and by the time the actual holiday comes along a lot of us are exhausted and can’t wait for it all to be over.
Where’s God in all this?
What exactly is it that we’re preparing for?
We hear the call of the prophets: ‘Repent, don’t fall into that trap of old bad habits that wear you down, that could potentially break you!’
We hear their call: ‘Refocus! You’re going the wrong way, you’re going about it the wrong way! Let the Lord fill you and change you from the inside out! The Lord wants you to be full of happy expectations, not anxiety and stress!’
Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning ‘arrival’, when a city would prepare for the arrival of the Roman Emperor, travelling to his dominions.
We on the other hand are preparing for the arrival of different king, a king of hearts and souls rather than empire, a king riding on a donkey.
It’s a period of a different way of preparing.
It turns us in a different direction, towards the great mystery of the Incarnation we’ll be celebrating at Christmas.
It allows for us to stand still and wait, let time pass, let the world pass us by and let our minds and bodies advance in a more wholesome and peaceful way, at a completely different pace than the craziness around us.
And there’s nothing wrong with getting the Christmas cards and invitations out on time, or to order in the food, or wrap the presents and get the decorations up.
But Advent tells us, warns us in a way that it’s not worth stressing out over, to be anxious for. It’s supposed to be a joyful time.
Advent tells us to repent and turn towards God every time, sometimes in a whole new way, in a whole new light.
Advent is our personal prophet, encouraging us like John and Malachi, calling for change, for a different way of doing and seeing things. And that’s exciting too.
Preparation not necessarily in the sense of doing but in the sense of becoming.
The prophets will keep calling us to attention because God’s invitation, His call which they represent is ongoing, even if the call feels overwhelming at times and perhaps a little scary too.
God’s invitation to turn to Him and meet God is an ongoing invitation, it will always be an open, inclusive invitation.
What will we do, how will we respond?
Run, like that other prophet, Jonah did?
What does it mean, to prepare, to repent?
How do we know we’re ready?
Do we have to be ready?
Or are we going to heed the prophets and learn from the season, and turn to God and let God fill us, refine us, kindle the Spirit’s fire in us.
Waiting with God has a different meaning: it’s not boring or nerve wrecking.
Waiting with God means changing, it means becoming calm, being at peace, and getting ready for God to enter our lives and our world in new and exciting ways.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. A