St.John's Church - An ecumenical partnership serving the needs of the Grove Green and Weavering communities

During the Chief-Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—John, Zachariah's son, out in the desert at the time, received a message from God. He went all through the country around the Jordan River preaching a baptism of life-change leading to forgiveness of sins, as described in the words of Isaiah the prophet:
Thunder in the desert!
"Prepare God's arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
Every ditch will be filled in,
Every bump smoothed out,
The detours straightened out,
All the ruts paved over.
Everyone will be there to see
The parade of God's salvation."
Rolling balls or marbles: better on straight and smooth. MAF landing strips – need to be straight and smooth, God wants to roll out his Kingdom, he wants to land on our lives. We are not straight and smooth – we are sinners, and that hinders the work of God in us and through us.
Two types of sin: omission and commission. Think of them as the hills and valleys in this reading. (Remember: hills will be chopped and levelled, and valleys will be filled in and raised up). The ruts and valleys on our road are the sins of omission are the things we omit to do – the good things that we could and should do but that we are too lazy or selfish to do.
So there’s something missing – a hole, a valley. God wants us to do and to be certain things and that’s the levelling up of the dips and ruts. The hills and bumps and mountains on our path are our sins of commission – the things that we actively are and do which get in the way of God’s life and love being at work in us and through us. We need to cut them out – chop them down, level them off to make a smooth and straight landing strip for God in our lives.
The season before Easter is Lent, and it’s a time of preparation and purification, when we say sorry for our sins and seek to change. The season before Christmas is Advent, but we would do well, Let’s make these few weeks a time of self-examination and confession, so that God can take us and use us afresh in the New Year.
So finally: when we go up to Tesco to sing carols we’ll be waling up some steps, across some cobbles, along a dark and twisty and crooked path through the woods. Is that like our life: rough and ragged and dark and crooked? The place we’ll be singing God’s praises will be smooth and straight and well-lit.

Amen