Practice As Preparation

"Prepare the way of the Lord."

Isaiah 40:3

There is a dynamic in life that says in times of difficulty or crisis we will usually default to that which we already know.  When we don’t know what to do we do what we know.  (Sometimes even when we consciously know what to do we still do the opposite because this is what is ingrained in our sub-conscious.)

Soldiers, athletes, artists and mystics have known this for centuries.  This is why their lives are described as lives of discipline because they continually practice that which they want to become the default response of their lives.

Could this be what Advent is all about?   

If we want a world of hope, joy, peace, and love then perhaps these need to become our disciplines, our preparation, our daily practice.

Then Advent becomes not waiting for Jesus to come, but preparing for Christ coming in our lives by actually living the way Jesus taught and showed us to live. 

This way Christ is born into the world through us. 


From the sermon "The Hope of Advent" on Dec. 2, 2012