December 6, 2020 – Second Sunday of Advent

Are you looking for God?

And what does that mean for you? 

You might have heard the messages: “Only 19 more days until Christmas!” “Christmas comes in 19 more days!” “Are you ready? Did you buy for everyone on your list?” We hear these messages and many of us feel our hearts race. We might be filled with the annual anxiety of gifting. This year — when things don’t look quite like any other year we’ve ever lived — might give us a chance to break the cycle, if only for this year. But many of us still cry out, “Help!” The voices grow louder as we approach December 25. Prepare the way for the big sales, the ones you can’t afford to miss (and truthfully, those you really can’t afford to attend, either). Get as much as you can! Don’t disappoint anyone! Don’t leave anyone out! And we cry, “HELP!”

Is it really any wonder that this season, which we value so greatly and should be the most beautiful, is the most difficult for so many? John, the voice in the wilderness, references the prophet who says, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” He doesn’t say to become exhausted by your preparations. He doesn’t say buy everything so that the Lord is prepared. He doesn’t say to wear ourselves out trying to please everyone. 

No, John tells us — through Isaiah — to open our hearts and to remove the obstacles. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in, a deep cleansing breath. And as you breathe in, ask for God to be present with you right now. Hold that for one moment. And as you begin to exhale, expel all those things that are crowding your life — the to-do list of unpurchased or unwrapped gifts, the thoughts of cookies yet to be baked, the worries about how you’re going to pay the credit card bills when they arrive — just let them go. Prepare the way for the Lord! Make the crooked paths straight, the bumpy paths flat, and allow God to enter in.

Beloved, the season of Advent is a season of hope, of expectation, of joy, of peace. It is not a season of anxiety. We are to open up the highway to draw closer to God, not to cause a traffic jam with expectations from family or ourselves. When we are traveling down the road and are bankrupting our budget to find the “perfect” gift, we may not have the gas to move down the road. Take time to be together with those who are near and far. Take time to sit together (even if it has to be over the phone or video chat) and laugh and feel the joy of God who comes to bring us all new life. Jesus did not come into the world to pressure us; God sent Jesus so that we may know the tender love that God has for each and every one of us, no matter where we are in life.

In order for us to see God and how God is working in our lives and in the world, we have to look. Life doesn’t stop so that we can have a peaceful Advent and Christmas season. So right now, in the midst of the chaos and all the uncertainty and disappointment of 2020, what do you need to do to notice God? Take a deep breath, allow God to fill you, and as you exhale, expel all of those things that are crowding God out of your life.

So often, when we notice God at work in the world around us, it’s simply because that’s when we’re looking. What would it mean to look more regularly? Perhaps we’re like the shepherds in the Nativity story, and we need angels to show up so that we can pay attention. But maybe those angels don’t have wings and look like what we used to think of as kids.

Throughout this next week, I challenge you to breathe deeply. Let God’s love flood into your lives as you feel the joy of the season. Experience those moments of peace and hope which God has placed for you to enjoy. Savor them. Jesus is coming to each one of us on earth with healing love and transforming power. But we need to be looking to find him when he comes.

In the wilderness, the voice will be singing songs of joy. Will you join that voice? Take a deep breath in, and let it out. Are you looking for God? And what does that mean for you?