i-Llan Sunday 17th December 2023 - Preparing the Way

12/16/23 • 4 min

i-Llan: connecting faith, life and scripture

'Transcript:
Advent is a season of preparation. It’s nearly Christmas and shops are full, delivery drivers are busy, presents are being wrapped, carols are being sung. I’ve even got my Christmas cards into the postbox before the last posting day—a record!

But, what about preparation for beyond Christmas? Not just plans for 2024 but the note of judgment that sounds throughout Advent?

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’ is the cry of the Old Testament prophet and of John the Baptist. In ancient times, when a king was going on a journey, working parties would be sent out to prepare the route, remove obstacles, make sure all was smooth riding. If we look around the world today, there are so many obstacles in the way of peace, justice, and right living that ‘preparing the way of the Lord’ may seem an impossible task. We are so small and powerless. We can’t make much difference in global terms, can we?

Have you ever walked into a room where there has been a quarrel, sensed the tension and immediately felt tense? Or stood in a peaceful place and soaked in the peace? Atmosphere influences us.

I trust that is true on the large scale, that every act of love increases love in the world, every gentle word or touch increases gentleness in the world, that our small acts—for good or ill—influence world affairs.

In other words, we prepare the way of the Lord by living in a way that God desires.

For the prophet Isaiah, in today’s first reading, that means becoming ‘good news’ for those in trouble. And, in the second reading, St Paul exhorts the Christians in Thessalonica to:
‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.’

Or, as Gandalf puts it in the film of The Hobbit:
‘Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.’

Perhaps we can’t directly bring peace to Ukraine or Gaza or other places where violence holds sway, but we can continue to stay informed and offer our prayers for them. And we can strive to make our corner of the world a place where God’s way is made straight, trusting that God uses that for the greater good.

i-Llan is part of alisteningspace.uk

But, what about preparation for beyond Christmas? Not just plans for 2024 but the note of judgment that sounds throughout Advent?

Have you ever walked into a room where there has been a quarrel, sensed the tension and immediately felt tense? Or stood in a peaceful place and soaked in the peace? Atmosphere influences us.

In other words, we prepare the way of the Lord by living in a way that God desires.

i-Llan is part of alisteningspace.uk

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i-Llan 24th December 2023 - Welcoming the Stranger

Transcript
This Sunday is both the last Sunday in Advent and Christmas Eve, which brings together two contrasting moods.
One of Advent’s themes, as I mentioned last week, is judgement. The Bible speaks of a last day when a victorious Christ comes on clouds to the sound of trumpets accompanied by triumphant saints and angels, after which this earth comes to a fiery end.
The gospels tell us that Jesus himself used such images when he spoke about a future day of judgement. They portray a God who seizes authority over the earth with frightening power. They are images drawn from ancient apocalyptic writing, but the terror they inspire is only too real for those existing in the war zones of today.
Then, Christmas Eve brings us to Bethlehem, reminding us that at that first Christmas God came as a vulnerable baby born in borrowed lodging and cradled in an animals’ feeding trough. Jesus’s later life shows a similar willingness to be vulnerable: immersed in the waters of baptism, riding into Jerusalem ‘humble and seated on an donkey’, tortured and bleeding as he dies on a cross.
Even after the resurrection, he is often unrecognised: a stranger in the garden until he calls Mary Magdalene by name (John 20. 11 - 18), a stranger on the shore who invites the disciples to share breakfast (John 21. 1 - 14), a stranger on the road who explains the scriptures to two despondent travellers so that their hopes are rekindled (Luke 24. 13 - 35).
How can we reconcile the contrasting moods of judgement and vulnerability to find a way of living which respects them both?
They tell me of a God who created and sustains the universe and has the power to bring everything to an apocalyptic end. Yet a God who risks becoming vulnerable in order to heal divisions of hatred by the power of love, [a God who waits patiently] for us to get the message and act on it.
This God invites me—and you—to risk welcoming the reality of divine love into our lives; invites me—and you—to risk accepting the Bethlehem baby as living Saviour.
Moreover, God also invites me to risk being open to those who are different from me. For God yearns for us to help build the future in which strangers become companions, enemies become friends. Then, judgement is not punishment but healing.
Welcoming the stranger is a vision which can be romanticised. I am certainly no St Francis or Mother Theresa. Pragmatically, I know that safeguards are a sensible precaution. I understand that charities implement vetting procedures to protect against scams. Yet, when I risk seeing beyond the labels that divide the world into factions, and when I engage with the human beings behind the labels, then I discover how Christ is present in the most unexpected places and people. In welcoming them I welcome him, and am welcomed in turn.
I wonder who offered Joseph and Mary a place to stay that night, and whether they ever realised how they had welcomed God into the world.
I wonder, too, how often (God forgive me) I have shut the door in his face—and how often I have welcomed him without realising it. This Christmas I pray again with the carol:
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to me, I pray;
cast out my sin and enter in; be born in me today.
May Christ find room in your heart and soul today and every day, and may you always be open to the possibility of love in unexpected places and people.

i-Llan is part of alisteningspace.uk