I Corinthians 3-9
Mark 13:24-37

Eugene Peterson presents Isaiah 40 in a little bit of a different light. Once God speaks of comfort, the prophet continues: 'Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth….Fill in the valleys, level the hills, smooth out the ruts, clear away the rocks. Then God's glory will shine and everyone will see it.' Unlike the new revised version, there is little doubt who is to do what in the preparation for the coming of the Lord. Add these words a little further on in Isaiah, 'Zion….you're the preacher of good news. Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.' Jerusalem you can do this because the shepherd returns gathering you up again into his fold, caring for you.

Enfolded in this message of comfort is the grace of God's forgiveness and care. It speaks of a time to come, but such a time did not come. And such a time has yet to come for us; we continue to wait for the coming of the Lord. So what do we do as we wait?

The gospel of Mark written some 650 years after 2nd Isaiah, we hear reference to Isaiah's proclamation: a messenger, John the Baptist, prepares the way, and we hear the good news proclaimed: Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John the Baptist baptizes people all around him into living lives that are changed ones. John called for folks to change their old lives into kingdom living. This is all a prelude to the One who will come and turn your lives around inside out.

I wonder what it would mean if we actually took our baptismal vows seriously? I ask this because our gospel makes reference, points to this.

Isaiah speaks to us: prepare the way; John the Baptist says more specifically to us; turn your lives into kingdom living.

A rewrite of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" I read last week would have us hear how we are so busy this time of year, making all kinds of preparations - invitations, gatherings, meals, gift buying, baking, writing seasons greetings to business colleagues, decorating the tree, chorales, children's productions. I remember hearing in late summer from folks 'round here don't plan anything extra during this time of Advent because everyone is so busy. The Little Town of Bethlehem contemporary lyric writer added to all the preparation-making at the end of each stanza that there just wasn't time to see the baby Jesus in the manger!

No matter how much we try, we can't get around it. In preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord, what we really need to do look at ourselves. Early in the morning, before we fall asleep, we need to look at our own selves and be straight forward with ourselves about where we do okay and where we just plain fall short. Do you ever do that? Do you ever sit down for a moment, to pay attention to what's eating at you or pay attention to why you feel a certain sense of aha and the source of that good feeling? Do you ever dare to admit to your self that you just plain messed up? Big? Sometimes we're fearful of opening up that Pandora box of misdeeds. But I assure you, only opening it allows for us to change and let go of them rather than holding on to them forever and being ruled by our fears.

I think it's a great thing that we're making a paper chain of gifts of kindness we have done or have experienced through another's giving. We're not good at admitting to ourselves that we might offer a bit of good in someone else's world. It's okay to take that blank piece of construction paper now and fill it in. But you need to promise to keep listening!

What can we do to prepare the way? Assess the lives we live - wholly: I wonder if we could make a paper chain of how we recognize and make amends for things we've done wrong: A wrong word here, a misstep there, speaking before thinking, forgetting a celebration, misjudging another, letting our own ego get in the way, being forever angry, taking on more responsibility than we're entitled to take credit for, not thinking more highly of the gifts we possess. I wonder what that would look like - to make such a chain of mistakes.

Growing up, I and my girlfriend who lived across the street played the clarinet. We'd give concerts in our neighborhood occasionally. I remember one time, in particular, where we played When the Saints Go Marching In. We were pretty good. But just before the performance, I decided I was going to be right, I'd play the notes just as they were written - holding the notes precisely counted out. I was right! That was a time when being correct was totally wrong! When the Saints swings, it's not a song metered out in a precise way.

Sometimes being right, just isn't.

Those in AA (Alcoholic Anonymous) who go beyond the general meetings and join a 12 Step Group know what assessing one's life is about. It may take them years to get to that stage but they look point blank at the good, bad, and the ugly. They are moving toward kingdom living.

Assessing one's approach and way of living: I have been reading and listening about the new film of covering the Frost-Nixon interview that happened three years after Nixon left office. In that interview, Nixon surprisingly reflects on Watergate and his role in Watergate. He speaks of how, for the most part, he believed the big things were carried out correctly. He said, however, it was the little thing that became a really big one that he regretted most. The country went through a living hell; the expended energies were endless in trying to cover up a little lie. But in that interview, it was as if Nixon was human; he admitted his wrong; only then could he be forgiven. Only then could he possibly go on to renew his life.

What can we do to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord? Turn ourselves around - oh, we can do it ever so silently - no one else has to know - An apology, if needed, doesn't hurt. Accountability is good. But no one else needs to know that we'll follow up with a new approach. Actually that's probably the best way to make new our lives - just to do it rather than tell every- or anyone else of our intention.

Have you heard the expression Dead Man Walking? That's an expression used for someone who is living on death row waiting to be executed. The book with the same name was written by a nun who befriended a Dead Man Walking. He had committed a senseless, brutal murder of a young woman. She sat with him that last week of his life hearing him come to terms with what he did and to come to terms with the death he was facing. He was preparing himself for the coming of the Lord. She helped the man come to terms with the whole of his life, the worst in his life, his deepest fears, and to know the presence of God. Though the deep wrong he had committed could not be erased, through her, he gained a sense that he was loved by God. Sister Prejean became for that man, the face of God, the face of love. As he died, his stare remained fixed on her face of love. That was the last thing he saw as he entered into another life.

Dead Man Walking prepared the way. He made straight the road in the wilderness. He lifted valleys and lowered hills. Through the gift of grace in a nun, Dead Man Walking turned his life around and readied himself for a baptism that only Jesus gives: a baptism of the Holy Spirit that turns one's life around from the inside out.

From the smallest of fears that keep us from being whole, to the misdemeanors that trip us up daily, to the greatest of injuries, God is waiting for us to be open and honest, and waiting to fill us with his forgiving love.

I invite you to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. He comes not just as a babe whose birth we celebrate in a couple of weeks but he comes as a Savior to bring peace deep within. Come now and take a moment to prepare, to confess, to be open to presence of love. We normally begin Holy Communion by reciting a prayer of confession together. This morning I invite you to take a moment to search yourself in quiet prayer.

Then will you know, O Jerusalem, O people of God, what can I cry out. We might cry out - of God's presence, of God's everlasting, forgiving love.