Stir Up Our Hearts

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Isaiah 40:1-11

When I tell people I’m from Nebraska, if they’ve ever been to the state, they usually say something like, “Oh Nebraska. I’ve driven through there on I-80; what a boring, flat drive!”  And it’s true – I have driven it many times, and thank God the speed limit is 75 on that interstate because you just want to get through the state as fast as possible.  One thing’s for sure, it’s pretty to get around in the lesser-populated state.  HOWEVER, when I was serving as a pastor in rural Nebraska among mostly farmers, I found out what a “minimum maintenance road” means one snowy day in January.  I was going to visit a homebound parishioner who still lived on a farm in the country a few miles from town.  I always took the most direct way, and it hadn’t been a problem before. I had this tiny two-door Saturn, that ran just inches from the ground, and as I headed down what I could see was an unplowed road, the snow got deeper and deeper than what it looked like until I was stuck -  really stuck – I couldn’t go backward or forward. I had to call two local parishioners who lived nearby to help tow my car out. It was so embarrassing.  I didn’t know that “minimum maintenance” meant no blading, no plowing, no gravel laid to keep the road from being muddy – just don’t go on that road if you don’t have to in bad weather, basically, unless you have four-wheel drive!
This morning, both Isaiah and our gospel from Mark describe a voice crying out from the wilderness, “prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”  Here in New York, we take for granted that there are many, many different ways to get from point A to point B – parkways, highways, ferries, bridges, taxis, Uber, the LIRR, buses.  Traffic may slow us down, but we don’t have much experience with “minimum maintenance” wilderness roads.  In ancient times, rulers would command new roads to be built to make it easier for a royal person’s arrival or to move military troops from one place to another.  Remember, “highways” were made for foot and animal traffic – there were no motor vehicles!  I’m not sure how great any of their roads were, even for royalty.  Concrete roads were not used until the 1800s, after all.  
Our reading from Isaiah today talks about the work of leveling the mountains and valleys, smoothing the rough places and uneven ground to prepare for God the King’s arrival.  As Christians, we understand Isaiah to be talking about preparing for the Messiah, Jesus our King’s arrival at Christmas. In Mark’s gospel, John the Baptist is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in embodying this voice and call to repentance and helping people spiritual prepare for Christ’s arrival.  And I wonder if our spiritual lives in this busy season look more like a minimum maintenance road than a smooth superhighway?  Have we created space and rhythms in our lives to tend to our relationship with God through prayer, reading scripture, fellowshipping with other Christians, serving others, and worship?  Or would we describe the attention we give to our spiritual lives as “minimum maintenance?” Have we taken any time to not just vent and talk to God, but also to listen and pay attention?  How might we clear up a path, even if it’s a bit rough and uneven, to prepare our hearts for Jesus this Christmas, and as regular spiritual habits we can practice throughout the year?
Today, we prayed, “Stir up our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your only Son.”  When asked, “Are you ready for Christmas?”  our minds jump to the to-do list of shopping for presents and wrapping them, decorating and cleaning the house to be ready to receive guests, planning a festive meal, attending holiday parties for work and friends, sending Christmas cards and the list goes on and on. I’ve had several conversations this week with people who feel that this Christmas season seems more stressful than usual- maybe after COVID we are still getting used to busy as “normal,” maybe it’s the shortened Advent season, I’m not sure, but the anxiety level is high for many of us.  As Christians, we know the most important preparation is not making sure all of these things get done.  Keeping busy is not the point of Christmas.  It’s OK to say no and resist the expectations of those around us a little bit to focus on our hearts and souls in addition to everything else surrounding Christmas preparations. Give yourselves permission to take a few minutes to breathe and see God at work, giving thanks to God for this great gift of Jesus, our Savior.  Christmas, after all, is ultimately about celebrating God’s gift to us in sending us our savior, Jesus Christ.  Enjoy the gift!
Every year, I know I will see a few signs that say something like, “Keep Christ in Christmas.”  I understand the sentiment. Of course, I am all for making sure people know that Jesus is truly the “reason for the season.” This phrase can be a helpful reminder of what Christmas is truly all about.  It’s another way we resist the ways the secular world turns this season into overconsumption, hollow sentimentality and materialism. However, we should be cautious of how “keeping Christ in Christmas” could imply the action is on us as another “to-do.”  Christmas is Christ’s gift to us, not the other way around.  We don’t need to worry about “keeping Christ” in Christmas, because no power of this world can possibly stop Christ from coming.  Jesus was born, Jesus lived among us, and Jesus will come again, whether we’re ready or not.  Christ comes to us at Christmas whether our presents are wrapped as a spectacle to behold or still in their Amazon boxes and arriving sometime around December 26.  Christ comes FOR us whether our Christmas greeting cards got out the day after Thanksgiving or sometime in February (our family has sent Valentine’s Day greetings by the way because Christmas was an unrealistic deadline)!  Christ comes precisely BECAUSE God knows our spiritual lives sometimes look as chaotic, jumbled up and as unsmooth as the rest of our lives this hectic time of year.  Christ comes to do some road construction in our hearts so that we might reconnect to God and to one another as the body of Christ more fully and deeply and assure one another that THIS is enough, this relationship with Christ is our priority and Christ is enough for us this Christmas.  We prepare the way, and we give thanks to God that Jesus comes to BE our way, truth and life.  Amen.