The valley is filled. The way is straight. Let’s Go! Advent 2 C Dec 6, 2015

+This week, at Bible study, we focused on these words from the 40th chapter in the book of Isaiah:

A voice cries out:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,

    make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Every valley shall be lifted up,

    and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

    and the rough places a plain.”

It may seem a little odd that we focused on words written by the Isaiah since we don’t actually read from the Isaiah this week, but both the prophet Baruch (our first reading) and the evangelist Luke (or Gospel reading) paraphrase Isaiah this week.

Baruch says:

For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low
    and the valleys filled up, to make level ground,
    so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.

Luke says:

Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth…

Even Handel in his composition of The Messiah paraphrases Isaiah:

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God…

prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a

highway for our God

Ev'ry valley shall be exalted, and ev'ry moutain

and hill made low; the crooked straight and the

rough places plain.

The words of Isaiah are so much a part of Advent and Christmas, so familiar that it’s easy to let them pass by without notice. To ignore them.

Don’t.

At this time in our nation with mass shootings becoming absolutely routine…

these words, penned by Isaiah, quoted by Baruch, Luke and Handel tell us what we need to hear, loud and clear:

God does everything God can to make the way into God’s out-stretched arms straight, smooth, and level. God does everything God can do to make the way into God’s full presence accessible to everyone, everywhere, always.

And yet, more than 355 mass shootings have occurred in the United States this year. And, depending on the definition you follow over 1,000 have occurred since that dark and horrifying day in middle December, 2012. You remember Sandy Hook, right?

On Dec 14, 2012 a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT  killing 20 1st graders and six teachers, breaking our hearts and no doubt, God’s.

And yet….we keep killing each other at an unprecedented rate.

If God’s heart broke in 2012, what in the world has happened to God’s heart since then?

One could make a case for God to be so disgusted with us, that God would, at this point, turn God’s back on us all, forgetting this creation and moving on to a new one.

God should be mad.

Disgusted.

Incensed.

DONE WITH US.

And yet,

Every valley shall be lifted up,

    and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

    and the rough places a plain.

Why is it that God doesn’t/hasn’t/WON’T give up on us?

Because God is God and we are not.

Thank God for that.

Because this? This mess we’re in, this horror we’re living, this tipping point of civilization that seems to be this moment in time, requires all the mercy, love and grace God can muster.

You know what gets me about this whole gun violence thing? It’s eminently fixable. This isn’t some rare form of cancer, this isn’t some autocratic foreign ruler who wishes the United States ill, this isn’t a pestilence of indeterminate origins wiping out our food source. This is a matter of legislation and culture. There have to be more people in this country who are sickened by these mass killings than not. And yet we can’t seem to fix it. Us, the supposed greatest country in the world cannot fix this?

But clearly, we can’t. Cleary we’ve gotten so tied up in our crooked roads, so lost in our monstrous valleys of worry and doubt, so discouraged by the mountain peaks of obstacles that we simply can’t do it.

The New York Daily News got a load of flak with their headline on Thursday that read, “God Isn’t Fixing This.”

Well you know what? I agree with the Daily News. God’s not fixing this. This is our mess and we have to fix it. God will help, by giving us the strength and the courage to do what we have to do.

But we have to do it.

And you know what? We can. We must and God-help us, we will.

How?

By refusing to be silent, by refusing to accept the status quo, by having the courage of Mary who said yes, when common sense dictated she say no; by having the integrity of Joseph who should have said turned away, but instead turned toward.

We do it by gazing out at our mountains of fear, our valleys of doubt and our roads twisted by anxiety and realize that

Every valley has been lifted up,

and every mountain and hill has been made low;

the uneven ground has become level,

and the rough places have been made a plain by our God.

Our awesome and ever-loving God whose heart has broken, but whose faith in us remains strong.

The darkness will not overcome us.

The evil will not prevail.

For ‘the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,

   and on earth peace among those whom God favours!’

On this Second Sunday of Advent 2015, when we face the encroaching darkness of this world, may each of us remember that we are empowered to overwhelm that darkness with the light of that Heavenly Host shining upon that one small crib, in that one lonely barn, upon that one little baby, Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we can do all things. Even this.

Amen And Alleluia.