Year B (Advent 5- A 7-week Advent)
 Isaiah 40:1-11
 Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
 2 Peter 3:8-15a
 Mark 1:1-8

May the words of my mouth O God…  speak your truth…

In early 1965…  the British group The Kinks…  released their song Tired of Waiting…  some of you may remember that the lyrics describe a woman…  who keeps her boyfriend waiting…  and as we journey through Advent…  I’m reminded that this season is one of waiting…  but like the singer in the song…  I’m also tired of waiting…  I’m tired of waiting for the kind of world in which I think we ought to be living to be realized…  tired of waiting for humanity’s sense of peace and justice to be more in line with the kind of peace and justice which prophets like Amos and Micah described…  tired of waiting for the Two Great Commandments which Jesus taught us to be written on enough human hearts… that the rest of us are pulled along by the cumulative draft which that creates…  but it’s going to take some time…  maybe a very long time before most people agree on what it means to love…  and then agree on the kinds of actions which arise out of that understanding…  a long time before most people agree on what it means to forgive…  and then agree on the kinds of things we need to let go of…  a long time before most people agree on what it means to care for the earth…  and then agree on the kinds of environmental actions we need to perform…  but that’s OK…  well…  it is and it isn’t…

I’ve said before…  it’s been two-thousand years since Jesus was here…  and look at how things still are…  but I’ve come to believe that this may be a forty or fifty thousand year program…  and that’s understandable…  because the more people we add into the mix…  the more challenging it can be for us to reach consensus on how to solve all the issues we’re facing…  oh we can create pockets of reconciliation…  and restoration…  and healing within our families…  and the communities of which we’re a part…  but until we stop believing globally that God’s diversity…  is supposed to be used as a weapon for division…  as it is in eastern Europe and in the Middle East…  and until we…  at every level…  start holding ourselves accountable for the abuses of power and authority which we commit…  we may as well use Einstein’s definition of madness…  which many of you may know… is to keep doing the same thing over and over again…  and expect a different outcome…

But let’s be clear…  it’s not because God is The Great Procrastinator…  holding off on giving God’s own good to us…  the way we sometimes hold off on giving our good to each other…  ]  God has already given us eternity…  but until we choose to tip the scales in favor of these things…  until enough people choose the Reign of Love over the American Dream…  or the Reign of Love over their own denomination…  or religion…  or the Reign of Love over political expediency…  or the Reign of Love over past hurts of so many kinds…  we have to ask whether our goals are getting us where we want to be…  and ask why it is…  that we exert so much effort in resisting God’s gravity…  whatever reasons we give…  we’ll have to deal with the consequences and the reality…  of not being quite there…  just…  yet…

Now the herald of good tidings…  is one who Gospels…  and…  John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness…  proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…  the wilderness is a place where there are few distractions…  and it’s easier to remain focused…  without the attractions or diversions of the city…  to remain focused on asking questions like…  why do I believe what I believe…  why do I think what I think…  why do I feel the way I feel…  why do I do what I do…  and for whom do I do it…  John’s baptism of repentance wasn’t intended to make all those who were coming to see him… to feel bad about themselves…  it was intended to help them turn their lives…  and at least the more significant things that they believed and thought and did…  to do them not just for themselves…  but for God as well… ]  and in what might be a counterintuitive conclusion…  that would also be doing it for themselves…  because baptism…  isn’t just about the death of our old life…  it’s about new life in Christ…  which is new life in God…  it’s a resonance with the passages of scripture…  like today’s words from Isaiah…  which reassure us that God wants us to be comforted…  ] and in response to that redemption…  we are called to fill in every valley…  and bring every mountain and hill low…  so that God and we can get to each other…  and I know some of us…  myself included…  have had to fill in some low spots in our lives…  and have had to come down from some pedestals… in order to better do this…   

But here’s where the Good News…  emerges full throttle…  let’s take another look at 2 Peter…  where we’re reminded that…  with the Lord…  one day is like a thousand years…  and a thousand years are like one day…  and that God is not slow about his promise…  as some think of slowness…  this means that God’s time…  is not our time…  ] and that establishing the Realm of Love…  across our socioeconomic and geopolitical divides…  is more complicated than simply apologizing for a word spoken in anger…  but that’s a start…  so let’s not be too impatient with ourselves or others…  the work we are called to do is complicated…  [ TC: ] and every collection of food and personal care items…  every package of diapers that we distribute…  every Angel Tree and Be a Santa to a Senior gift we buy and wrap…  is another step in that direction…  [ HT: ] and every Bonus Box of food we deliver…  every sock-it-to-me sock that’s put on bare feet…  every cap that’s knitted…  is another step in that direction…   So why do we begin each new church year with waiting…  because each year we can start over…  because there is hope in making the smallest of changes…  and we need to prepare for change… we need to prepare ourselves physically…  emotionally…  psychologically…  and spiritually…  just as we prepare to move into a new home…  or move into a new relationship…  or a new job…] even for Scrooge…  it wasn’t too late to start over…  and in Is. 43:19…    God says…  See I am making a new thing new…  I will make a way in the wilderness…  and rivers in the desert…  so among the questions we may consider asking…  are…  how do we know when something really begins…  and how do we know when a thing ends…  I hope we never get tired of waiting for the answers…