Preparing to Fall in Love

CAdv2 12

Malachi 3:1-4

Psalm—Luke 1:68-79

Philippians 1:3-11

Luke 3:1-6

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler 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 region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "

Grace and Peace are yours from our Savior Jesus the baby who is coming.

Jared was an upstanding young man, very likable, a little goofy, which was a perfect qualification for the job of camp counselor.  He was heading to a Lutheran camp for the summer after completing his 3rd year of college.  He had loved camp as a kid and had been a counselor for a couple of years now.  He loved the campers, being with the staff, and it was definitely the place where he felt closest to God.  As Jared was packing his backpack with his hiking gear, sleeping bag, and toothbrush, his mom was puttering around, asking if he needed anything- plainly wishing the young man in front of her was still her little boy, young enough to climb up in her lap.  She paused in his doorway- all set, Jared?  Yep.  Raising his fingers he exclaimed, “Be prepared!”  I knew the years of boy scouts would pay off someday, she smiled.  Jared gave her a hug- I’ll see you when you come for your women’s retreat.  If the ladies will let me steal you away at some point.    I’m going to miss you this summer, Jared.  Life moves so fast, sometimes it’s hard to catch up my heart with reality—soon you’ll be moving out of this room permanently.  Yeah, well, let’s hope I can find a job first.  Ah, Jared, always my practical one… they looked at each other- suddenly stone –faced with three fingers in the air each.  “Be Prepared!” Laughter sparked the air with their good-bye hug. Jared’s dad stuck his head in- hey can I get in on the action?  And with a big hug, he said, “We love you, Jared” and mom added, From the day we laid eyes on you.  We love you and God loves you, she said, making the sign of the cross on his forehead.  Have an awesome summer and know our prayers are with you.

Jared did have an awesome summer.  By the time his mom showed up for her women’s retreat, he was excited, but extremely nervous to see her. Mom, I have someone I want you to meet.  Now don’t freak out, but I think she’s pretty great.  I hope you like her.   Sounds pretty serious, Jared?  She said, raising her eyebrows and smiling.  Yea, well, maybe it is…

I sort of thought I would find someone like this in a few years- after I’d worked for a while.  But, mom, just wait.  She’s incredible.  She’s funny, smart, caring, has a huge passion for animals, loves to hike and camp, would be willing to try skiing, though that’s new for her… I know camp is intense- we live in this camp bubble… but mom, I definitely know she is good for me.  She brings out my good side.   It’s just very weird to even be thinking this way… you know me… I like stuff planned out. …I don’t feel prepared… How would I “be prepared” for this?

Remember that moment?  The moment you realized you had fallen in love? 

For some of us it comes on suddenly and others it’s like a slow dawning.  That’s one reason I think we have the season of Advent.  This time of preparation is set aside in the year for those of us who need time to realize what is happening to us.  Who need time to see that it is the desire of our hearts to be with someone who cares for us more than we care for ourselves… the aching we feel when we are alone is because we need to feel loved… and though it may sound hard to commit to being with the one we love- it’s harder to NOT be with them.  That’s when we know… love has found us.

Whether it is with a partner or one of your own children, falling in love isn’t something we “do”… it’s not something we can really “prepare for”…other than to be open to it coming.  And that’s advent.  Preparing by being open to the coming one- who is madly in love with us and desires us to fall in love with him.  For when in love, we do things- sometimes unthinkable things-  for the one we love.  Without a second thought and out of pure joy.  Being in love changes us.

John the Baptist cries out as was foretold in Isaiah “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight…”

Prepare, prepare… how does one prepare for the coming Christ child?  It’s like trying to prepare for falling in love.  An impossible task, because we don’t know what it will be like.  We don’t know how to be “in love” any more than we know what Christ will ask of us, we just know we will respond in love. 

John the Baptist calls us to repentance, to clear our hearts of selfishness and personal gain… for that isn’t an attitude that allows love to enter in.  John is crying out in the wilderness, our wilderness of our hurting hearts, broken and lonely- where hunger reigns and powers abuse.  Out of that wilderness he proclaims that God is coming.  Coming to make a superhighway, an easy, direct, fast path, a clear shot straight from our hearts to him.  By this straight path, God enters into our human experience so deeply that we are no longer alone, for love has found us.

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "

God enters in and sees a clear shot to us and we see a clear shot to God.  This is our salvation: the clear shot made by Jesus.  No more mountains of struggle or valleys of pain, no more crooked ethics or rough patches, no more distractions or misdirected signs.  For “ALL FLESH shall see the salvation of God.”   God is coming, and the world will look different from now on.

It’s much like our synod tagline “go where love leads, serve where love calls.”  For God is love- and God has fallen in love- yes, with you, individually you ‘warts and all’ but more than that- God has fallen in love with us, the whole human race. And that love we are DEEP ‘in’ leads us, calls us, to go and serve—in love. Our hearts beat as one as we see the salvation of God.

During this advent season, we prepare less in the way of the boyscout and more in the way of one open to new possibility.  Like we learned last week, we stand up, raise our heads and look for the clear shot God has created between God’s self and us.  We look, like someone in love, for the arrival of our beloved- Jesus in a manger.  For we are about to fall in love with a God who is already deeply in love with us. 

God who comes in the form of a child to disarm us.  God who comes from immortality to die for us.  God who comes to bring us back into a loving relationship, no matter what we were planning.  How can we “be prepared” for that?

Amen.

<photo id="2" />