The Wasteland Express

Well, here we are, already at the second Sunday in Advent. So you can expect that our readings today will still be about waiting, as in waiting for Jesus' coming-but we all handle waiting differently. For example, here's one approach.

A priest, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning behind a particularly slow group of golfers. "What's with these guys?" they asked the golf course manager. "We must have been waiting for 15 minutes! Maybe 20!"

The manager replied, "Oh, that's a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime. But I'm so sorry for your delay."

The group fell silent for a moment. Then the priest spoke up, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight." The doctor said, "Good idea. And I'll contact my ophthalmologist buddy to see if he can help." And the engineer said: "We don't mind waiting… let's treat them to drinks at the clubhouse."

We Need Words!

These men sound so much like all of us, don't they? Can't wait even 15 or 20 minutes to continue their golf game-bored with waiting, UNTIL… certain words changed everything. The manager spoke, and suddenly they had a context for their waiting.

The meaningless waiting was now full of meaning they had not expected. When someone speaks words of explanation, especially if they include words of apology, we suddenly do not mind the waiting half so much.

Today the Scripture readings remind us that if we follow God, we have to embrace the vocation of waiting-because God is working out the salvation of the world over a very long stretch of history. When we look at what our ancestors in faith did-we see that every generation has also waited.

But today we hear two important voices that are raised into that seemingly empty waiting space-Isaiah, and John the Baptist. Their voices give us context, comfort, and wisdom on how to wait.

Prepare the Wasteland

For example, Isaiah says, "A voice cries out: in the desert. Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!" This voice announces God's powerful entry into the world, an event that is going to transform mountains and valleys into peaceful pathways. But notice first that it is in the desert and the wasteland where God will be revealed. This means God is coming to be with us in the driest and most wasted parts of our lives. And this time, God is coming as a shepherd who feeds his flock; he carries them gently in his arms, like baby lambs.

Isn't this a great image of God! And isn't this the God we all yearn for? Because, so often we only feel the dry, barren parts of ourselves inside. We lose faith that God could ever live there. But when we admit who we really are-when we're in touch with our own wasteland of broken commitments-that is when we are able to start preparing ourselves for God's coming.

How Can I Share Love?

Have you ever volunteered in a drug treatment center or a homeless shelter? Tom Perkins did, and he came home shaken the first night. "I was just handing out sandwiches and talking to a few of the men," he said. "One man told me he hates himself, that he's nothing but a failure in life. I

heard a woman call herself "trash"-and one man couldn't look up, he was so ashamed of himself." Tom was not judgmental of them, but he was really troubled. He said, "These people despise themselves for their weaknesses. If only they knew how much God loves them! If only I knew how to get them to believe that!"

"Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!" Once we admit to our own violence, our lust, our lack of charity, the way we hurt others… then we can ask for forgiveness and something more: wisdom, a new start, a healthier and more sacred way of life. That is how we lay down a highway for our God. And God is coming nearer-reaching out for us, to gather us into loving arms.

Never Despise Ourselves

No one should ever despise or hate themselves! But if we can simply admit the worst about ourselves, and ask for healing, then we are hearing the voice of John the Baptist. He cries out into the desert of our hearts that we need a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of our sins. Here we're told being really, deeply sorry, and wanting to be forgiven is the key to a new life with Christ.

Instead of following God, we try to be God in so many ways, in our families or at work-not listening, using our authority too harshly, and being judgmental or hard-hearted. Or simply being unkind or uncontrollable.

St. Paul asks all of us today, "What sort of person should you be… Conduct yourself in holiness and devotion," while we wait for "a new earth and a new heaven" to come. Yes, the whole creation will see God's glory and power; but God is coming to the creation one creature at a time. Let us use this Advent to get to know our own wasteland, so that we can prepare a straight way through it for the Lord to come to us.