Preparing

People get ready
There's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord
        - Curtis Mayfield


“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. 
            -Isaiah 40:3-4

Getting ready is an activity we spend a good portion of our lives doing.  We get ready for work, plan vacations, clean the house for guests, do research for a paper, train for athletic events, draw plans for a building, outline a speech, - you get the idea.  But, when it comes to our spiritual lives how many of us really take time to get ready.

Advent is a time for getting ready, for preparing our lives in order to experience the Presence of God in the world.  One idea I've come to appreciate and try to keep in mind is that God is eternally present.  This simply means God Is - always and everywhere.  The constant of our spiritual lives is God - the variable is us.

So, how do we prepare?  The popular song based on an old Spiritual says, "You don't need no baggage
You just get on board. All you need is faith."   Our scriptures say by leveling things out and finding equilibrium in our lives, in other words - relax, slow down, be still.

It just so happens that during Advent as you get these weekly messages on Wednesdays there is also an opportunity for you who are in the DC area,  some "getting ready" time on Wednesday evenings at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church.  Tonight, Dec. 7, at 7:30 we have some special guests joining us for our time of music and meditation.  Cardinal Trio, three graduate students at Catholic University, will be sharing their music on piano, cello, and violin with us.

If you really want to experience God's presence in your life, why not take one hour tonight and "get ready".