Leveling the Playing Field (Advent 2)

Luke 1: 68-79 & 3: 1-6
Roger Lynn
December 6, 2015
2nd Sunday in Advent
(click here for the audio for this sermon)

On this second Sunday in Advent, when Peace is proclaimed as the theme of the day, we hear John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness of the Jordan, “Prepare the Way of God! Make the paths straight.” Listen to the way the energy builds in John’s message as it comes to us from the musical Godspell. (click here for the YouTube video of “Prepare Ye”)

At first glance John doesn’t seem much like a peaceful sort of fellow. He is wild. He is brash. He is a firebrand. And yet, the Gospel writers all cast him in the role of the one who “prepares the way” for Jesus by preaching about leveling the playing field. And that, in a very real and very powerful sense, is exactly what peace is all about.

Most of the time these days we have so watered down the meaning of peace that we are content for it to mean simply the absence of fighting, or perhaps even just the absence of major international fighting. And even that would be a significant achievement worth celebrating. But John has something more in mind. Certainly Jesus has something more in mind. For you see, both John and Jesus understood Hebrew, and they knew about the word Shalom. They knew that it could mean peace. But they also knew that deep down at the heart of the word it means wholeness. And ultimately when there is wholeness there is peace, because the wholeness of Shalom is an all-encompassing reality which includes me, and you, and all of us, and everything everywhere. It means wholeness not merely for individuals but also for the connections we share with the larger whole of which we are a part.

John’s message – “Prepare the way of God, make God’s 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; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3: 4-6) – offers a vision of peace which is active. It’s not about waiting for something to happen. It’s not about waiting for someone else to do something. John looks each of us in the eye and says, “Prepare!” You can do something. You can make a difference. It is an incredibly empowering understanding of how peace really works.

When we allow the vision of Shalom – the vision of wholeness – to shape our choices, to empower our actions, to infuse our living, then we are well on our way to becoming active peacemakers in the world. There is a part for us to play. Indeed, the kind of wholeness we are talking about means, by definition, that each of us must do what we can. Otherwise there is a “gap” in the wholeness. Prepare the way! Make the paths straight! Level the playing field so that everyone has the opportunity to experience the fullness of life.

What does that look like? Well, it will look different for each person, and it will look different in each situation. The things that I can do are not necessarily the things that you can do. The things I’m passionate about doing are not necessarily the things you are passionate about doing. And the wonderful thing about the wholeness of Shalom is that together we form a bigger, fuller, richer “whole” than any of us could ever hope to be on our own. When I add my voice to your voice we start singing a harmony that can heal the world. When I use my gifts alongside your gifts, we start building a bridge that can span the deepest divides. When I join my efforts with your efforts, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. All of this is true because it is based on a formula which includes God at the heart of the equation. The very essence of our connection is nothing less than the sacred breath of the Holy. When we participate in the ongoing activity of building Shalom, we are, quite literally, engaging in something which is greater than the sum of the parts.

And we are already doing it, both individually and collective! We are already preparing the way. We are already bringing our creativity and our passions to bear. We are already laying the foundation for healing and wholeness and peace. We collect special offerings throughout the year which support a variety of outreach ministries both locally and globally. We support the work of God’s Love, Family Promise, Helena Food Share, Intermountain Children’s Home, Habitat for Humanity, Friendship Center, and Stuff the Bus. We sponsor a community garden. We host community forum events. There are various community groups who make use of our facility – groups who touch people’s lives and seek to make the world a better place. Some of you volunteer at various local agencies and organizations. Some of you write letters to your legislators or letters to the editor. Some of you make contributions to the world in quiet ways that no one ever hears about. All of these things and more are the ways in which we put our faith into action and prepare the way for God’s wholeness to be made manifest in our world.

What else is possible? Who can say. When we start down this path, arm in arm with each other and with God, joining our voices and and our energy and our lives together with the exuberance and the harmonies we heard in the song from Godspell, there really is no telling where the journey will take us. But one thing is certain, when we keep before us the vision of an ever-expanding Shalom, then the words of Luke’s Gospel become an increasingly powerful reality. “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79) May it be so for us. May it be so for the world.