This past Sunday we sang the beloved Advent carol, “Comfort, Comfort, Now My People.” It’s a hymn based on our Old Testament reading from Sunday, Isaiah 40:1-11. As the prophet Isaiah heralds the Israelite people, he brings them good news that their exile away from their homeland is finally over. God, in God’s faithfulness, is going to deliver them! God is going to save them! God is going to rescue them, just as God had done before for their ancestors in their exodus from Egypt.
But first, the people are given a job by Isaiah: they are to be the road construction crew, working to ensure that the pathway for God to come to them would be a smooth one.
It’s a joke in WI that there are two seasons of the year: winter and road construction season. Having lived in IA as long as I have now, I’d say the same is true here as well. We all know what a mess road construction makes. But the point of it is to create safer pathways, to repair holes, and to fill in spots where holes have developed.
In the same way, Isaiah urges the Israelite people to take up this work. Since the beginning of the book, the prophet has made it abundantly clear that they had been putting up roadblock after roadblock, disconnecting themselves from God, from themselves, from those around them, and from creation. And all those roadblocks, all those obstacles, would need to be torn down for the Israelites to find joy in connection with God once again.
So as we move into this week, focused on our second sub-theme of finding joy in connection, I urge you to consider the roadblocks that you’ve put up, keeping you from being connected from God, from yourself, from those around you, and from God’s beloved creation. Consider these questions:
- What barriers have you erected keeping you from God? Busy-ness? Fear? Independence? Your own agenda/desires?
- What walls have you built between yourself and others? Apathy? Judgment? Anger? Jealousy?
- How have you disconnected yourself from God’s beloved creation? Have you treated it as something disposable? Have you not honored the life-blood from which you came?
This week, bring your reflections to God in confession. And as an Advent practice, repent of these obstacles: picking up the sledgehammer to make room for God to come to us, once again, or adding a little extra asphalt to fill a hole so that not only you, but all the world might experience joy.
Thankfully, even if our road construction is not complete (let’s face it, road construction is never done, is it?!), our God promises to come to us. That promise has been given. But how smoothly we, and the world, may connect in joy with Christ and with one another? That takes some work from us, too.