Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Having prepared our hearts, minds and lives through Advent so far we now turn our attention to the coming King. Today’s reading is from Isaiah chapter 40
The call is to make a path for the King in the wilderness, in a land with no refreshment, no verdant pastures, no cities. In the Bible the wilderness is often a picture of a place where God is forgotten.
The great temptation in our day is to think we have lost. The Church is in decline, faith is shrinking, we are the minority, best keep quiet. That is not the thinking of this passage: in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.
That’s not something for someone else to do. What can you do to prepare His way next year? This week?
You may not be a preacher. How can you support those who preach?
You may not be able to evangelise on the street. How can you support those who do?
You do know people and you do know Him. How can you be a link between the two?
Perhaps we just need to be more excited about the Good News we have.
Advent 2021 