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Isaiah 40:1-11
Recently I shared with colleague that Isaiah is my favorite prophet – if it is even possible to choose. This call of Isaiah to the people who are in diaspora – conquered by the Babylonians – is a call to remember. Yes, there is remembering the power and presence of God. There is also a re-membering of the community that are the people of God. “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’” reads verse 9. Remember that you are not alone. You can proclaim from the mountains the wonder, love and glory of our God. Oh, may we never forget.
Bonnie B.

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Isaiah 40:1-11
Life is fragile.  Here today, gone tomorrow.  John Wesley captured this despair when he wrote, “all men are or have, yes, their highest accomplishments, are but like the grass of the field, weak and vanishing, soon snipped and brought to nothing.” (Commentary On the Bible, p.330) John Calvin said much the same thing about us, contending that humans are nothing but “smoke and vanity,” that their excellence is “deceitful and failing.” Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VIII/1, p.208) This lesson and Advent direct us to get ready for the better days of the future which lie ahead.  Famed modern theologian and social commentator Reinhold Niebuhr urged this forward looking way of life when he wrote:

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope.  (Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, p.282)

Human life is historical, and we cannot evade the constitution of our life.  We must not be preoccupied about tomorrow, but it is still the day when the promise of youth is fulfilled.  (Justice & Mercy, p.84)     

An unwillingness to look to the future, allowing ourselves to be bound to the past is bad for your brain health, happiness, and facilitates the aging process.  It seems that the brain is capable of self-organization, no matter how old it is, but when it is not challenged to make new connections (a process facilitated by the secretion and enjoyment of good-feeling brain chemicals) it stagnates and so ages (Kelly Bulkeley, ed., Soul, Psyche, Brain, pp.138ff.; Sherwin B. Nuland, The Art of Aging, esp. pp.233ff.)
Mark E.       

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2 Peter 3:8-15a
This passage is rife with apocalyptic memes: For God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about divine promises but patient. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. And when it comes, we’re going to know it, with signs on the earth and in the heavens.

Many people respond to apocalyptic warnings with delight! At last those “other” people are going to get what they deserve. It’s going to be fun to watch! Won’t they be surprised?

But when it comes to what one of my professors in seminary used to call the “Yom Yahweh,” Hebrew for day of the Lord, there is almost always a delay formula. The day of the Lord is coming, but it’s not quite here. This is not a failing on the part of the Lord. It’s meant to give us – you and me – time to recognize that we’re one of the ones under a cloud of conviction.

So, this is not meant to be a trailer for coming attractions, action clips that make us say, “I am not missing this movie.” These are warnings that there is still time to change, but not an inexhaustible supply! Whether that day of the Lord is today or a thousand years from now, we should live lives of holiness and godliness, and “strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish….” God’s patience makes our salvation possible. Act now!
Frank R.

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2 Peter 3:8-15a
I have been a fan of C.S. Lewis but have to confess I did not know this story. I found it in two different sources to verify its accuracy.  On the eve of World War 1, Lewis made a promise to a soldier friend, Paddy Moore.  Moore was worried about the care of his mother and sister if he should be killed in battle, so Lewis assured him that if that were to happen, he would look after them. As the war dragged on, Moore was killed. True to his word, Lewis took care of Mrs. Moore and her daughter. Yet no matter how helpful he tried to be, the woman was ungrateful, rude, arrogant, and domineering. Through it all, Lewis kept forgiving her. He refused to let her actions become an excuse to renege on his promise. There was quite a bit of discussion about Lewis and Mrs. Moore, but what struck me, in connection with these verses, is that Lewis was a man of his word. He kept his promise.

God also keeps his word. Jesus Christ will return, and the day of the Lord will come. The things of this life and world will be destroyed. The new heaven and new earth will be ushered in. These things have not happened yet, despite nearly every generation believing their generation was the last. As Peter writes, don’t mistake God’s patience for God not keeping his word. What he’s promised, he will do. Are you ready?
Bill T.

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Mark 1:1-8
In most manuscripts, Mark identifies Isaiah as the author of the prophecy quoted in the first few verses. In point of fact he is actually quoting two prophets — Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 4:3.

Malachi’s prophecy, “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me –” is fascinating. The name Malachi can be translated both “messenger” and “angel,” and I can’t help but wonder if Malachi considers himself the messenger who has come to test God’s people “like a refiner’s fire,” revealing who the people really are and both purifying and refining the people so they will shine like gold and silver. Part of what must be burned away from among the people are those Malachi is called to bear witness against: “the sorcerers, the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me.” The first three categories call to mind the Ten Commandments (those practicing sorcery are serving other gods, and it’s perfectly clear Ten Commandment-wise how God feels about adulterers and those who swear falsely. But as for those who withhold paychecks, oppress widows and orphans, and who do not love the alien as themselves, well, that calls to mind Leviticus 19, which I once called in an article “The Sermon on the Mount of the Old Testament.”

The verse quoted from Isaiah, and by extension the entire passage (Isaiah 40:1-11), is a call to the exiles who have suffered greatly because of their ancestors’ disobedience. The exiles in Babylon (and probably those in Egypt as well) are called to come home. They’ve suffered, they’ve been tested by the refiner’s fire, and they are now purified.  The whole chapter is worth quoting from. Come home, people. You’ve suffered enough, and you are changed.

And since Mark is using these verses to point to John the Baptist, he expects us to see that prophet as fulfilling both the threat in Malachi 3 and the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 40 – and by extension, the fulfillment of the prophecy in Jesus. John is the messenger who is preparing the way, and purifying the people through his challenging message and his baptism of forgiveness. Mark identifies as the beginning, and only the beginning, of the good news of Jesus Christ.
Frank R.

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Mark 1:1-8
Mark shares the call of one who prepares the way – John the Baptist. Recently I was talking with some youth about their faith. They came to church originally because their parents “dragged” them. And as they listened as little children, they fidgeted as children do and perhaps didn’t experience much of the worship or Christian education. What they remembered was the people holding their hands, offering them juice and cookies, giving them coloring sheets, smiling at them and hugging them. These relationships prepared them to enter into their faith. As they grew, they began to see those acts as acts of Christian love, the living of the faith of the community. Soon that faith became theirs as well. People prepared the way for them to grow into their faith. That is a gift.
Bonnie B.

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Mark 1:1-8
John the Baptist belongs to the Advent Season because John’s word is all about getting prepared.  The boy scout mantra is good advice with Christmas on the horizon, good advice all the time: “Be prepared.”  Shakespeare made a similar point when he wrote, “All things are ready, if our minds be so.”  Thinking about this lesson, Martin Luther offers some good advice in one of his sermons on how best to prepare: 

To prepare is to clear out of the way whatever will be an obstruction.  This preparation is nothing else than humbling ourselves from our arrogance and glory.  Those are the chief obstacles for the hypocrites, who walk in human ways and their own presumption and do not accept the grace of Christ.  To prepare this way, however, is to walk on it naked, without merits of any kind, in the grace of God alone...  (Luther’s Works, Vol.17, p.9)   

Like John the Baptist, we will want to prepare for Christ coming into our lives by getting out of the way.  Getting yourself and all the accomplishments and strengths you think you can bring to a situation out of the way is the best way to prepare yourself to see Jesus and grace in your everyday life.  And it seems that these activities along with prayer feel good and make you happy.  Studies have indicated that happiness is a function of experiencing the feel-good chemicals of the brain (dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin) that are secreted especially when the brain’s prefrontal cortex is activated.  That happens especially when we are planning (or praying).  And because dopamine is a drug to which we can build a tolerance, once the planning ends and has become reality, we gradually experience less pleasure from what is the case, become less happy, when we are not preparing for something new (Stephan Klein, The Science of Happiness).  Preparation helps keep faith vibrant and alive.

Mark E.