Wednesday, November 26, 2025: Advent One

Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!” (Isaiah 40:3 The New Living Translation)

               The headline news, these days, seem intent on painting a worrisome picture for the incoming Christmas season. People are worried about the economy, inflation, the increasing costs of living and how expensive Christmas giving can be. To the horrors of Christmas commercialism, people are seriously considering to cut back on their Christmas spending.  But I also expect the gifts of charitable giving to much-wanting organizations may also fall under a more rigorous scrutiny. Our gifts may get smaller than normal and that would be a shame. Churches, foodbanks, shelters, children’s charities really need our support. But tough times call for tough decisions. The turkey may need to be a bit smaller this year.

                Perhaps, this is not the type of wasteland that the prophet was thinking about. But for many reasons beyond just economic ones, the Advent/Christmas season can feel like a wilderness, even for the most affluent. It can accentuate the barrenness of living: poor family relations, loneliness, separation from family, anxieties, worry, frustrations, stress, grief, health concerns, and, of course, counting pennies when one needs dollars. Thankfully, this is not everyone’s story of Christmas, but for many, it sometimes hard to hear the Christmas story against the backdrop of wilderness living.

                Yet it is this verse, quoted by Luke which often opens the Advent season.  It is helpful to hear how Isaiah and Luke both cut through the morass of bleakness and hopelessness to shine new light. Isaiah is speaking against the backdrop of the Jewish exile. Luke is pointing to the advent of Jesus’ ministry through John the Baptist. I like the fact the voice is SHOUTING. We need to hear what God is saying over and against all the noise and hubbub of a cacophonous world. God’s Word must rise above the din and speak to the fears and uncertainties of our times, be they Christmas related or not.

                Isaiah is part of clearing the path, creating a new way in the wilderness. He is directing us to focus on God who is clearing the way ahead. He is promising a better way, a safer way, a straight and narrow path for us to walk in faith, hope and love.  Later, in the book of Isaiah, some of the onus is on us to be part of that highway construction: “Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.” (Isaiah 62:10) We are beacons of light for others along the way, for those who are lost, forsaken, hopeless or unloved.

                But it begins with God making a new highway in our life’s journey.  “You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.” (Psalm 18:36) No longer are we trying to go it alone. No longer are stumbling in the dark but God has shone a new Light for us to follow. Jesus in that Light: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John  14:6) I don’t interpret these words as exclusionary but being very inclusive for any and all who are looking for a better way, a better reason for living, a clearer focus in life.

                When we grasp Advent through the lens of being in the way of Jesus Christ, then hope returns, peace reigns, joy abounds and love overflow. It does not depend on the headlines, not on world leaders, not on others, not on our gift lists, not on our social calendars. In Advent, God is reaching out to us and beckoning us to follow. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Jesus understand the weariness of our steps, the plodding nature of our journey, the bumpy roads we encounter along the way.  His Light reveals new possibilities of a straighter pathway ahead. As we dare live by Jesus’ standards and follow his example of Love, service and compassion, we are led to New Life. “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” (John 17:3)

                Listen, indeed! Here is our straight road this Advent. “Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.”  (2 Corinthians 4:1) Can it get any louder than that?

 Dale