Isaiah 40:1-11

I hear the sigh of the people, breathed through smiling lips.
Breathed from their captivity like sunbeams daring prison bars
It echoes through the mountain passes and rolls across the plains.
I sense comfort for the people in the realization of the tenderness of God.
The penalty has been paid. There has been enough of punishment.
This interminable punishment, deserved of course, yet no less difficult, no less hard, is done.
I hear the sigh of the people breathed through tired yet hopeful lips,
They respond to herald voices breaking the dark night of doubt that all this would ever end.
And end it does! News, News announced by a voice in the wilderness of their captivity.

I hear the voice shout, Look! There, a highway, straight as a prairie grid road.
Follow it! There is no wandering, no more walking in circles.
Travel it home. That is where it goes, straight home.
I listen to the voice sing, "Prepare the highway for the Lord. Prepare your hearts and home,
For the Lord comes, to be at home with the people.
I see the road change. The high inhibiting mountains tumble and level. Obstacles disappear.
The dark gullies, the deep canyons rise up; give passage through fear, loss and pain.
The journey is easier now. The dangers disappear. Look, people are skipping. Some dance.

The voice speaks caution then against the vanity that so easily comes when roads are straight.
"The road is not built with the people's skills, strength or stamina.
"They are like flowers that fade and fall, fragile as grass and glass.
"No, the road is easy because of God's lavish mercy, unchangeable in the midst of change.
"It is straight and safe for the weakest ones who trip on untied laces and stumble on weak knees,
"It is smooth for the pregnant ones birthing possibility and life."

Then the voice shouts, "Here is your God! Your God is here!
"Look through the darkness that still gathers on playgrounds and battlefields
"And see your God coming again, coming to rule with power and might."
The voice grows louder each passing day as the light increases.
One, two, three, four!
Candles warm me. I wonder, “Have I felt the arms of God hold me and gently carry me.
I wonder, “Maybe this Advent - a time to wonder, to dream to believe again.

David Kaiser