The Rough Places Made Smooth

Every week, I receive an email from an Episcopal church in California with a prayer about the world’s events that week. The email is cleverly titled “World News this Week in Prayer.” This week, the prayer began with a quote from the Common Lectionary for the Second Sunday of Advent. “Stir up our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your Son. By his coming give to all the people of the world knowledge of your salvation.” It went on to say: “How much we want to pray this prayer, holy and compassionate God. How much we want to have our hearts stirred by the hope and truth of the coming, yet again, of the Christ Child into our world. How much we want to experience your saving grace. But as we look around at that world, the world of your creation, the world of which we are to be loving and careful stewards, the prayers catch in our throats and we are rendered dumb.”

As I planned for the Advent season, it was the second Sunday of Advent that troubled me most. Peace. Today we lit the candle of Peace. What does a worship service anticipating the birth of the One who is the Prince of Peace look like in today’s world?

I kept thinking of a poem about preparing the way of the Lord by a Presbyterian pastor, Ann Weems, called “In Search of our Kneeling Places.” The first stanza is evocative.

In each heart lies a Bethlehem,
an inn where we must ultimately answer
whether there is room or not.

God speaks through the prophet Isaiah such beautiful words – peaceful words. Comfort, O comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid. The Lord God will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”

But first, we must prepare the way of the Lord. Isaiah said it, and John quotes him. “Prepare the way of the Lord.” This is not a statement about getting your trees decorated and your cookies baked. Preparing the way of the Lord has nothing to do with parties and presents. Preparing the way of the Lord is about more than singing along at the store with The Little Drummer Boy and thinking how sweet for a child to offer to play for the baby and reflecting on the connection between the gifts you are buying and the gift of God we are celebrating. Preparing the way of the Lord is about more than decorating the tree and considering how bright the star in the sky must have been for the wise men to follow it.

Preparing the Way of the Lord is hard work – valleys have to be filled in, mountains and hills cut down, curvy cow paths straightened and rough ways made smooth. Isaiah tells us that there is going to be an advance man, like the kings of the day had when they were going to travel in the kingdom. This forerunner’s purpose was to tell people where the king was going to be traveling to repair the roads. John is the advance man, the forerunner of the King of Kings. And his message was different, “The King is coming,’ he said. ‘Mend, not your roads, but your lives.’ (Barclay)

The way of the Lord is not a massive government road project. Jesus was born not as a king, but as a carpenter. When I was a little girl, I used to go out to my dad’s shop and watch him spend hours and hours smoothing wood. Sanding, filling, sanding, rubbing…until it was completely smooth. It was slow, focused, patient work.

Prepare the way…in your life. Not in a moment here, or a thought there…but like a carpenter, spend hours and hours smoothing the way. It is slow, focused, patient work. Will you make room in your life for the Prince of Peace?

What are the valleys in your life? Are there empty places? Deep depressions? Unfulfilled expectations? Will you let the Prince of Peace come and fill them?

What are the mountains? Are there places built up that are too steep to get over? Hills of pride? Terrain that is rough, unexplored? Will you let the Prince of Peace come and cut them down?

What are the crooked paths that have been built along the paths of least resistance? Will you let the Prince of Peace come and make a new, straight path?

What are the rough places that must be sanded until they are made smooth? The Prince of Peace is coming as a carpenter to work your wooden heart until it is smooth.

We celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace not because our world is peaceful, but because it is not peaceful without him. The Prince of Peace is coming…for in every heart lies a Bethlehem, an inn where we must ultimately answer whether there is room or not.