by Sr. Doreen, SSJD.
The Anglican Church Calendar for December “Prepare for God’s arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God.”. (See Isaiah 40)(Message translation)
“The detours straightened out, all the ruts paved over. everyone will be there to see the parade of God’s salvation. (See Luke 3) (Message translation)
If we look around at what our culture is celebrating after Thanksgiving or Hallowe’en, we begin to understand that the season of Advent which we begin this week is out of sync with our culture. Just after Hallowe’en, Christmas trees, decorations, shopping adds, and shopping, music, Christmas puddings and baking all seem to roll out as promoted activities. Christmas music, both secular and sacred is the soundtrack in most department stores. How do we keep Advent during a culture that on the street sees these weeks before Christmas day as the Christmas season? This is an important question for us as we move during Advent to the miracle and mystery of Christmas, the Incarnation – God putting on flesh in Jesus and moving into our neighbourhoods. It is important for you and for me, for now the Word, (God), wrapped in human skin, speaks peace on earth through us God’s children.
As I ponder Advent seeking a deeper meaning of what the incarnation means in our world today, I have chosen the theme for my Advent reflections this year as “Highways”, since the Church Calendar itself starts off the season with a quote from Isaiah and St. Luke… One of the things that I like, when on holidays with Bev and John, my sister and brother-in-law, is our enjoyment going for countryside drives. It is always interesting to see the changes since the last time we passed by this section of the highway, the clouds in the sky and stretches of untouched land, and always something unusual that makes us smile or laugh. Highways are for travelling on and moving through somewhere to get from one place to another. As I pondered “Highways of Advent” I reminded myself that I was not necessarily or even talking about, a 16-lane freeway or a fast expressway … but highways, even country roads, that we can travel leisurely on, giving us the opportunity to pay attention and to enjoy the scenery!
As we prepare for God’s arrival at Christmas it is also important for us to remember that new every morning, each day, God’s love and presence is with us each moment of our day. So, as Advent begins, perhaps this year our motto could be a shining sign “AN ADVENT HIGHWAY, BE PREPARED”.
This first week of Advent I share my ponderings of The Straightened and Leveled Highway as the scripture passages suggested. As we stand at the beginning of Advent how might we like to move through our life from where we are now to where would like to be – from one place to another? What are those crooked places, those ditches, those detours, those ruts in our life that we long to have smoothed over and straightened out? Perhaps there are rocks that need to be moved out of the way and bumps that need to be leveled in our lives. It’s an opportunity to become more in tune with this new thing that God is about to do – God’s coming to be with us!
There will always be mountains blocking our way, hills to climb, deep difficult valleys to descend, and deserts with vast stretches of wilderness, but how might we travel this highway in ways that fulfil our longing to journey through these places in a straightforward way, for making the way for God straight by straightening out life’s obstacles and making rough places plain. This involves inner spiritual and practical preparation. What, as I ponder, might be an opportunity for me? How might Advent be encouraging me to address my own “crooked roads,” such as bad habits, emotional baggage, or a lack of purpose?
Another thought came to me as I pondered. From time-to-time life seems to be a long hard climb up what seems to be an unsurmountable hill! At the same time, I know God is always in the midst of this difficult experience, reaching out loving hands and a smile, encouraging me to trust that God is actively working to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges in my life, preparing a path where none seems to exist. I am reminded that in Isaiah 45 God’s message to us is that “I’ll go ahead of you, clearing and paving the road. I’ll break down bronze city gates, smash padlocks, and kick down barred entrances. I’ll lead you to buried treasures, secret caches of valuables … because I God call you by name, my chosen, and you are precious to me …”
God’s highway to us is straight, all the detours and ruts are gone – for us traveling that highway however, we find in ourselves circumstances that need a lot of straightening and fixing: causing God to travel some bumpy, potholed, and circuitous ways! How often does my spiritual highway get cluttered by selfishness, impatience, blindness to the needs of others around me, anger, half-hearted commitments! We can all come up with our own list of places where we need to do some leveling and straightening. Advent pondering is a time for finding the right way of removing these roadblocks on our life’s journey – ways that we can ask God for help in letting go of the obstacles we place in the way so that we open up a wider heart to the presence of God in our lives. We are partners with God in this journey – it is our effort and God’s unconditional and tenacious love, mixed together, both essential, that enable spiritual graces in our lives.
How does the image of the highway speak to you about your relationship with God and your daily life of faith?
What kind of leveling and straightening do you need to do, what obstacles do you need to address prayerfully with God?
I found pondering psalm 139 to be helpful and especially this verse in the psalm:
Psalm 139: 23-24 “Search me out, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my restless thoughts. Seek out any wickedness in me, O Lord, and guide me in the path of everlasting life.”