Danger lurks:
unknown tribesmen behind endless rocks
strange languages
scorpions and other biting insects,

Endless cold mountains
and deep, dry valleys

Thirst, fear, loneliness, confusion.
No one asked them if hey wanted to come here.
Now, home is an unwelcome ache in the chest,
a cruel dream
one can't go there
there is only now
only this emptiness and terror.

Yet, this prophet, Isaiah
speaks of going home,
home to Jerusalem
a hope of home while in exile
here in Babylon.

"A voice crying in the wilderness,"
he calls himself,
"Prepare the road of the Lord."
"The mountains shall be laid low
the valleys filled in"
in the trackless waste,
a road,
streams of water
food for a journey

that God's people might go home
and rebuild the Holy City,
long in ruin.

Yet, this Isaiah is clear
that the impediment to going home
is a blockage of heart and will,
the road one of amendment of life and spirit.

"God shall strike the earth
with the rod of his mouth"
that is, his tongue, with words,

"and, with the breath of his lips
shall he remove wickedness,
and his breath
his spirit
cannot fail.

God's Word will change the world
by transforming the human heart,

"and they will no longer hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain…
for the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea."

And, it came to be.
Babylon fell.
The people gained character, courage,
trust, and hope.

They set out in the year 538 BC
and walked over or around
the fearful wastelands for months,
and, they rebuilt the Holy City, Jerusalem.

---------------

flute: Hymn 56, Veni Veni Emmanuel, one stanza less refrain

The wind swirls
raising the dust in a cyclonic pattern,
turning the sky yellow,
even darkening the sun.

Danger lurks
unknown tribesmen behind endless rocks,
mountains, and dry valleys.

We have nice houses
with running water, and a pillow for our heads.
We have paved streets
We can pick up food at a market
or eat out in a restaurant.

So, why are we here?
and, who is this guy, anyhow?

We know a little, of course.
We have heard about this troublemaker
and want to see if he is actually a threat
to our way of life.
People are listening to him,
but not people of any consequence it appears.

So, here we are, early, just as the sun rises
waiting on this cold rock
by this pitiful stream in this wasteland
just to the north
of this horrid Dead Sea, of all places.

They say his name is John,
and here is!
He has kept us waiting quite long enough.

"Repent."
that's the first thing he said.
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
"Prepare in your heart
a pathway to your God."

He wants the people in this dusty world down here
to clean up their lives,
love God and neighbor, all that good stuff,

Good for him, I guess
They need some straightening out.

Of course, we are from Jerusalem
the better parts of the city, of course

descended directly from Abraham, are we;
and we are above all this.

There is no threat here;
let the rabble have him, I say
Let's go home.

But, look,
John is pointing to us up here on the rock.
He is saying something rather loudly to us
"You brood of vipers
who said you could leave?"

How dare he?

"Repent", he says firmly to us
Have a change of heart,
"for God can raise up children of Abraham
from these very stones!"

"And, one is coming, more powerful than I,"
who will give you new life,
amendment of heart,
and excitement for the Lord.

Once again,
the issue is one of the heart
just like back at Babylon
over 500 years before this scene
by river Jordan,

and the persons who need
for God to reach them
in their barren wilderness
of self imposed spiritual exile
are us.

and the promise of Isaiah
is again repeated through John the Baptizer,

God will come,
and, "the earth shall be filled
with the glory of God
as the water covers the sea."

------------------

flute: Hymn 56, Veni Veni Emmanuel, one stanza less refrain

The wind swirls
raising the dust in a cyclonic pattern,
turning the sky yellow
even darkening the sun.

Ground zero still smolders
Many hundreds, thousands lie unfound, unburied.

Danger lurks for us.
The danger from outside is minimal,
but danger of the heart threatens,
insidious,
powerful.

Will we allow ourselves
to be transported to unknown places,
to barren, trackless wildernesses
of fear, anger, and dysfunction?

Will we allow evil
to control our personality and our spirit?
cause us to hoard our resources?
limit our life?
withdraw into a wasteland,
exiled from our true home?

Will we allow evil to harden our hearts
into twisting, deforming hate?
bend our spirits into something
God wouldn't recognize?
We might.
God won't.

For the Kingdom of heaven is near.

We have this community of faith as proof,
and will never be alone,
no matter how the wind blows
no matter how dark the sky.

We have our faith stories
to assure us of the reality and the power
of God's love and presence
even in the Valley of the Shadow.

We have hope that comes
from God's promises
and the witness of the saints
of myriad time, place, and circumstance.

We have this precious moment of life
with which to live faithfully, openly,
lovingly, and generously.
We have a mission of being partners with God
to bring peace and joy to others
in spheres of our own influence.

and, we have an Advent joy
of awaiting God's time,

When, "The earth shall be filled
with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.

----------------

flute: Hymn 56, Veni Veni Emmanuel, one stanza less refrain

This is an Advent time in our world.
We know it to be true.

It is an opportunity to see things differently:
to see ourselves differently,
to see one another differently,
to see God more clearly.

The wind swirls
raising the dust in a cyclonic pattern
turning the sky yellow,
darkening the sun.

Danger lurks:
unknown tribesmen behind endless rocks
strange languages
scorpions and other biting insects,

Endless cold mountains
and deep, dry valleys

Thirst, fear, loneliness, confusion.

and,
in spite of it all, into it all,
for us, to us,
God comes!

Every day, in a thousand ways,
God comes,

and we are home.

flute: Hymn 56, Veni Veni Emmanuel, one stanza including a refrain