Political Poetry

Prepare the Way of the Lord - Luke 3:4

Yesterday's (Sunday) gospel reading begins with every lector's worst fear: a long list of names and places with mysterious pronunciations and even more mysterious significance. Most listerners briefly tune out this seemingly extraneous information, tuning back in for the poetic exhortation: "Prepare the Way!"

But these names, these places - these are the politicial leaders and seats of power that will be shaken by what is about to happen. These historical figures and geographical markers are the context into which God became flesh. This listing reveals the absolute audacity of our gospel's claim: that Emmanuel, God-with-us, came into the world as a specific time and specific place, and we are called to respond.

And yet those who gather in this time and in this place to ask: How can we respond? How can we prepare for an event that has already taken place? As soon as we acknowledge the historical nature of this Advent reading, the Christmas story, the tangible and visible presence fo God-made-flesh, it begins to feel distant, perhaps even disconnected from our own lives.

But John does not run for political office, petition the government officials just listed, nor even appeal to religious institutions - all of which have faded into the dusty pages of human history. John proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all who will listen. This timeless pronouncement has shaped our worship and sacraments within our church family and does so even now, some two thousand years after John the Baptist and his passionate ministry.

The transcendence of John's prophetic promise of forgiveness beyond time and place erupts into the gospel writer's inclusion of an ancient text, some 700 years old even by the time of Christ. Isaiah's plea to "prepare the way of the Lord" summons each one of us, mo matter where or when we find ourselves, to trust in the promise for all generations: "all flesh shall see the salvation of God"