December 08, 2024 | Rev. Loren McGrail
In the days of Israel’s captivity, special roads were prepared for the rulers’ procession into the city of Jerusalem. You had to remove the rocks and fix the potholes and make the crooked places straight. You did all this to show honor to the ruler. Isaiah is part of our Advent readings because he fits with our sense of getting ready and preparing however, I have always struggled with this passage with its insistence on changing the landscape by making everything straight or level. Why? Because the ruler, this time, will be a baby born in a cave in Bethlehem. He will lie in a manger surrounded by sheep, goats, cows, and oxen. Later in life, he will enter Jerusalem on the back of a lowly colt. He will defy imperial conventions and choose a humble entrance through the shepherd’s gate. So why prepare for him like he is an imperial ruler?
When I lived in Israel and Palestine, the only straight roads were either illegal settler roads or military roads. Everyone else had narrow curvy roads. Once on the way to the village of Nahalin, my friend, Jihan, made the comment that the road was bumpy and torn up because it was a Palestinian road and only the settlers had nice smooth straight roads. She said if they fixed this small, twisted road it would be saying you believe in the apartheid road system----that separate roads were normal. She was proud of their crooked rocky road.
In the Judean desert today, the place where John the Baptist wandered about until he came to the Jordan River to baptize, the roads are mostly straight because they are Israeli military roads. However, there are other roads based on the pathways the animals take because they follow the contours of the land. Instead of leveling the landscape they move around the hills. The camels always take the easiest routes which are often the most direct too. Easiest isn’t always straight, Dear Ones.
Before turning towards our own journeys ahead, I would like to share with you Anna Bladel’s from Enfleshed Liturgies reflection on the value of ‘wildness’ and wilderness:
“Taught by logistics of dominance to tame the wilderness within and without, we have too often ascribed to God the powers of control, order, and mastery.
But a God who comes to us in the form of infant flesh---tender and vulnerable---of refugee flesh---haunted by urgent longings and desperate dreams---calls our attention to the holiness of wildness, and the wildness of holiness, and the Holy’s insistent instinct to meet us in the wilderness of unknown and unknowable futures.
Holmdel Community United Church of Christ, you are about to be without a pastor for a few months, a wilderness of sorts. I invite you to prepare the way for your new pastor coming by continuing to do the work you know you are called to do in your Council, committees, and teams. You have created well- worn pathways over the years and trust the process—trust God. So, when the mountains rise up like how to tackle the budget deficit, climb up those mountains and take a look around and see what needs to be done now and in the next three years. What assets do you have? Where are the streams of continuous cash flow? And when the valleys dip, when there is conflict, don’t be afraid to deal with it directly because when you don’t it grows into misunderstandings and lack of trust. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, share the road with others. We are entering into a time where all kinds of people and creatures are being othered or threatened with violence and loss of rights both here and around the world.
They need you to speak up and stand up to the powers and principalities and maybe even the church just like John the Baptist did. Don’t be afraid to call something by its true name. A brood of vipers is a brood of vipers.
Testifying to the light begins with the repentance of sins especially the sins of silence and complicity in the face of evil. I hope I have showed you how to use your voice and declare your Christian values even when it puts you at risk. Our witness at those nasty school board meetings did not necessarily win the day, but it did get people’s attention and even ire. The LGBTQ Plus community felt our support. The fight continues and some would say intensifies. I trust you will continue your witness.
Dear Ones, let your preparation for the coming of Emmanuel, God –with- us, be an opening to follow rather than a call to change, fix, or destroy. Fear not your imperfections-- your crooked rough places, your unsmooth thoughts, or even your splintered, or broken hearts. God welcomes you just as you are and asks you to do the same for others. Follow the contours of the landscape of your wild and precious lives so you can welcome a wild Christ already there waiting for you.
Dear Ones, on this Peace Sunday, I invite you to align yourselves with the peacemakers, past and present who are seeking a way that doesn’t lead to destruction of our planet, war, or genocide. St. Oscar Romero says, “Like John the Baptist, every Christian should be someone who becomes a path, who becomes light, who becomes witness.” The peace of Christ can be found here.
Holmdel Community United Church of Christ, the wind has changed and like Mary Poppins, I must leave you. I believe I am leaving you stronger than you were when I arrived two years ago with a better sense of what it means to be a progressive church that combines mission with justice and an inclusive theology that can be seen and felt in word and action. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbor.” Go and serve your neighbor.
Dear Ones, it has been a deep pleasure to minister with you. I believe your future, though unknowable, holds deep promise. Remember follow the contours of the land, the wildness of the holy, and call a viper a viper when you see one.