Comfort My People

The lectionary texts this week include both Mark's use of Isaiah's "Prepare ye the way of the Lord" in a literal sense as he prepares people to receive Jesus as the Lord AND Isaiah's initial prophecy to "prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." But the Isaiah text begins, "Comfort my people." In other words -- tell them the good news -- things are changing in a Good way! My congregation doesn't like to hear that things are changing -- they like things the way they've always been. Sure, they'll accept change as it comes, but it's difficult. Their memories are of good times in the past, and we often forget that the "good times" can also live in the present . . . if we will make room for them.

I heard a wonderful quote yesterday from a colleague of mine. "If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always got." But he continued, "but it will be diminished." In other words, to make a way in the desert we can't simply do what we've always done . . . or we will continue to get lost in the desert. Comfort my people -- tell them that there is a way through the desert . . . there can be a highway for our God!

I'm going to use a story I heard at yesterday's presbytery meeting. A man was working at Montreat and decided to make a labyrinth. He and his 10 year old son laid the tape on a gazebo, then stained it, then removed the tape and there before them was a beautiful labyrinth. The child quickly ran through the labyrinth (even though labyrinths are to be carefully walked through). The second time through he slowed down a bit, making his way to the center to meet God, travelling the twists and turns of the maze. The third time he crossed all of the lines and walked straight to the center. Then he turned to his father and said, "some people think you can skip all of the twists and turns of life and go straight to God, but that's not how it works is it, Dad?"

I appreciated this story, because it reminds us that life is full of twists and turns. It reminds us of how difficult it is to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight in the desert a highway for God. We start off in our spiritual lives, prepared to make a straight path for God, but then we get caught on curves and twists and turns and we forget our purpose. There's nothing wrong with those twists and turns for through them we are strengthened to continue making that path for God to travel along.

I'm starting here in my sermon preparation this week. I haven't commentaried yet and I'll see where my study takes me, but this is the beginning. Please, share your thoughts as you ask God to help you comfort God's people.