(The Nationalist, 19 December 2003)
We are living in a time of desert, when people have a sense of things gone wrong, of dreams turned sour, of the bright hopes of a new millennium negated, of new fears stalking the earth. The time of Jesus’ birth was also such an era. Before him came John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, a man who forth-told the present more than he foretold the future. He had a message of repentance and a promise that all humanity would see the salvation of God, a message that people needed and wanted to hear, and which gave them hope.
We all have our wilderness, our desert, our place of death, as when we are barren with failure or frustration, dried up without vitality, and experiencing no growth, when mirages confuse and mislead us. But desert experiences can be a time of life, a period of hibernation, a winter before the spring.
In everyone’s life there are paths to straighten out, for example, crookedness, deviousness, underhand ways, a cute hoor mentality. There are valleys to be filled in, such as emptiness, hollows, and depression. There are heights to be laid low, like arrogance, pride and self-sufficiency. There are winding ways to be straightened, as when we use diversions and delaying tactics, fudging issues rather than facing them. There are rough ways, such as insensitivity, harshness, excessive bluntness, and judgmental attitudes to be smoothed in us.
Sorting this out is not a precondition for seeing the salvation of God; it is its result.
How can we prepare the way of the Lord? What do we have to do for its fulfilment? We can accept that people will not become better as a result of punishment, criticism and blame; accept that salvation is a gift, not an achievement; that there is no DIY salvation. We can accept that God comes among us, not in power but in weakness, as a new-born child, with no strings attached, no hidden agenda. We can accept that Jesus comes as saviour, healing our divisions and brokenness, drawing people together in unity, enabling and empowering the weak. We can accept that we are loved by God unconditionally, not because of our goodness but because of God’s, not because we are lovable but because God is love.
The knowledge that we are loved releases bonds, such as those of the fears that make us live below our best. Like the sun shining on a flower, it opens, unfolds and flowers.