"Preparing in the Wilderness"
Isaiah 40:1-5; Mark 1:1-8
"...the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord..."
The Christmas season beckons us to overindulge, overspend, overwork, and overdo. But into the whirlwind of incessant music, of secular trappings, of overconsumption, John the Baptist comes on the Second Sunday of Advent preaching a different message and calling us to a different path. John calls us to "prepare the way" for the coming of God. But his idea of getting ready is not about baking and buying and decorating, but rather about getting away from the noise and the crowds and the excess and entering the stark desolation of the wilderness.
We might think of the wilderness as a barren, abandoned, godforsaken place. But the wilderness is the place where, throughout the scriptures, people have encountered God. For us, the wilderness is anywhere we can become absorbed in the powerful presence of God. When we go to the wilderness, we can be emptied in order to prepare room for the One who is coming. And we just may find, on this Sunday of Peace, that our wilderness experience brings to our souls a peace that we can't find elsewhere this time of year.
We hope you will join us for worship at 10 am on December 4, the Second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Peace, at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton, an Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ, 76 Pierce Street, Stoughton, Massachusetts.
