in the wilderness

Opening Prayer: O God, come to us, this day.  Meet us in our wilderness.  Show up in the hidden corners of our hearts and lives.  Speak your word to us and bring us to life.  Give us hope during this season of Advent.  Amen.

Scripture: Luke 3:1-3

Journal: Where, or through whom, has God spoken to you recently?  What did he say?  What was your response?  How will you look for him in the unlikely places and people during the season of Advent?

Reflection: Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip the tetrarch, Lysanias, Annas, and Caiaphas, quite an impressive cast of characters; a regular who’s who of the political, social, and religious communities.  And yet the word of the Lord came to none of these.  Instead, it came to John, the son of Zechariah, and in the wilderness no less.  I think that tells us something significant about the heart and the intent of God.  His word did not come to the rich and the beautiful and the powerful.  Instead, it came to an odd, faithful, solitary, and passionate man that few people had even heard of, or cared about, up to that point.  And it came in the most unlikely of places.  It did not come in the temple, or the palace, or the synagogue, but it came in the wilderness.  Therefore, during this Advent season, as we watch and wait for the coming of the Christ, we might do well to pay attention not to the high and mighty, the rich and powerful, the popular and visible, but to the obscure and the hidden and the lowly.  Because that seems to be the way that God most often sneaks into his world.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to pay careful attention, for you are likely to come in ways and through people that we might least expect.  Therefore, keep our eyes open and our spirits attentive to your appearing, however, and through whomever, you might choose to show up.  Amen.