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Advent is a season of preparation. Last time I wrote about ‘watching’ for the coming of God. In this message I’m urging us to PREPARE, get ready, and build some anticipation about God’s plan to come. God is coming to bless us, help us, free us, and restore us. Too many people today only expect bad things. Like, if I expect the worst, then maybe I won’t be so disappointed when life gets hard. When that’s my approach to tomorrow, I think ‘getting ready’ must mean preparing for bad things I imagine will come in my health,  in my career, in my family – bad things in the country, and bad things in my finances. If I ready for the bad, I won’t be so taken off guard when it arrives. And while it’s true we shouldn’t be naïve about the tough days and challenges that are part of life in a fallen world, we are not meant as Christians to let those possibilities poison our hearts, hopes and attitudes toward the future. Faith takes a different view. In fact, the Bible tells us when bad things come our way, the best response is to ‘lift your head, for your deliverance is coming soon.’ It’s as if even the bad stuff,  in the hands of the Lord On High, becomes a platform for the good stuff to fly in and land near us.

So how about, instead, we expect and prepare for good things – good things in our health, our families, our work, our community, our country and our world. Psalm 128 says that those who trust in and follow the Lord will enjoy many fruits and will be blessed with good things. (CEV) I’m not suggesting you live in denial about life’s wrongs and injustices or bury your head in the sand. What I am saying is don’t hang your head and lock your eyes downward on the dirt. Yes, it’s always there, true. But why not lift your head and raise you eyes upward? Up to the Lord God On High, whose promises are ever in a state of coming true, of arriving at just the right time, of moving toward fulfillment, often unobserved but still at work in, with, under and over everything, always advancing us as heaven’s children toward the good plans God is preparing for us.

John the Baptist appeared the desert wilderness as a voice preparing the way for the Lord. It’s interesting to me that it was ‘in the desert’ that this preparation was taking place. What if we looked at the struggles and challenges of life from the Baptist’s perspective? Then the wilderness would not be viewed as only a curse, nor the hard things as all bad. Instead, harsh places would be exactly where God’s voice calls us: Get ready! God is coming! Good things, blessings, help, gifts, love, mercy – all coming closer. Don’t miss out on what the Lord God is busy preparing to bring your way, even now. Have faith! Have hope! Look up and over those dry places that make you feel poor, up toward the lift and the gift soon coming down. Like Psalm 121 says, I look up to the hills from where my help will come. . . my help comes from the Lord. 

John, out in that desert, appears with nothing but the animal skins on his back. No wealth, no status, no indications that it’s circumstances that put one in touch with the arrival of divine goodness and mercy. All John has is his ‘voice,’ but it is the Voice. So John becomes God’s microphone  urgently announcing: Get ready! Prepare! Turn! My good and gracious kingdom of blessings is drawing near.  Are you set to receive them?!

How does God ready us? And what is our part in this preparation? Consider some simple Advent prep steps:

1) Plan. Getting ready for a house guest requires some planning – making a welcome space, the right foods, a house free of clutter. If God is coming to bring you special gifts, how can you get things ready? Do you need to clear out some clutter – resentments, materialism, worries, doubts? Why not wash those things out your heart by honestly confessing them to God and asking for grace to clean up your spirit in like the waters of baptism.  Jesus promises, Ask and you WILL receive. So, ask! Confess. Get clean.

2) Repent. John invites us to ‘turn,’ which is what ‘repent’ means. The best way to turn away from temptations, grudges, fears, and greed is to turn toward Jesus. Find a way to turn your heart toward the good news of Jesus’ coming into the world. Why not read one of the four Gospels from beginning to end this Advent? Take Luke – Luke’s gospel tells the stories of Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ teachings’, Jesus’ acts of deliverance of those in bondage, Jesus’ healings, Jesus’ unconditional forgiveness, and Jesus’ victory over death itself. Repent by turning away from all the stupid mindless things you tend to fill your mind with, and turning toward Jesus, and fill your mind with the good things teaches offers.

3) Help. John’s message is about getting proactive in preparation. To actively straighten out the crooked roads, lift up the valleys, and smooth out the rough places in front of you. So many places in our communities are marked by broken roads, crooked with injustices based on race or gender or power or addictions or money. Too many people are demoralized, living life down in the valleys. Far too many relationships are so bumpy you’d call them anything but smooth. Why not use Advent as time to take some action. Do something  to help overcome racism, to battle poverty, to reconcile relationships through confession, forgiveness, and making amends.

In these simple ways, PREPARE! Trust me, if you take any one of these steps, you will  experience the coming of God in some special way, and likely in such a poignant way you will, in fact, truly make this Christmas mean something!