The Preparations Are Already Done

Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming!

Matthew 3:3

Today's Reading

In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming!

Clear the road for him!’”

Matthew 3:1-3

The Advent road cusps.

The glow of Christmas breaches over the horizon. Everywhere, the lights signal. The music, the music drifting in—harbingers of the King.

And if you listen, linger and listen, you can hear the forerunner, John the Baptist: The King is coming, the Lord is coming.

The King’s herald is calling His coming, calling for the clearing of the road.

You have felt that road—how it can twist, right there in your gut. Expectations can ride like highwaymen, ransacking joy, killing relationships.

Performance bandits can choke mercilessly at the jugular, steal the riches of His grace.

The herald of the King calls to you in this moment to come away from the crush and the crowds, to come away to a space of stillness to be ready for the coming of the Lord.

In the wilderness there are few roads, so Christ is the only Way.

Rest here.

The wilderness offers you grace: we are most prepared for Christ, for Christmas, when we confess we are mostly not prepared. Rest here. There is only room in us when we are done with us.

There is no shame in trembling a bit at the drawing near of His coming. When you have a visitation from a holy God who breathes out stars beyond our galaxy and is white-flame purity, holy awe is apt. Walk barefoot a bit through your last days of Advent. We are sinners before a holy God. But the holy God who comes is your saving God, your rescuing God, your weight-carrying God, the Shekinah glory who always splits the blackness and unleashes captives free. “God cleanses and sanctifies us, comes to us with grace and love,” writes Dietrich Bonhoeffer. “God makes us happy, as only children can be happy.”^a

Rest here and happy. Rest happy as only children can be happy in the days before Christmas. Rest happy and love this story of a coming King who prepares the downtrodden for Christmas by becoming the Way, who lays Himself down in the crèche, on the Cross, so we can lie down and rest. You are unconditionally accepted and unbelievably wanted because you don’t merely know of Him; you are related to Him by blood.

He comes for you in the wildernesses.

You are most prepared for Christmas when you are done trying to make your performance into the gift and instead revel in His presence as the Gift.

That is all there is left in these last days of the Advent road—the sacredness of His presence saturating everything.

You can feel it, even now.

Your Christmas becoming more.

Becoming miracle.

Unwrapping More of His Love in the World

As you make your ordinary preparations today—shopping, cleaning, baking, traveling—breathe a silent prayer, asking God to clear the way, turning your secular tasks into something sacred.

When will he come

and how will he come

and will there be warnings

and will there be thunders

and rumbling of armies

coming before him

and banners and trumpets

When will he come

and how will he come

and will we be ready

MADELEINE L’ENGLE

A Moment for Reflection

How do the performance bandits seem to target you, especially at this time of year?

When is the last time you rested like a child? Take a few moments of true rest today.

Look around you and name the sacred things among the ordinary.