By Maureen Wright

Have you ever had a favorite book, one that was read over and over and over again? A book whose story was just as appreciated the last time it was read as it was the first time it was read.

For us as Christians, Advent is like a favorite book. Every year, the liturgical calendar tells the story of God in relationship with God’s people; every year, the liturgical calendar begins with Advent – the story of God reaching out in grace and love, offering salvation to God’s people. The Advent story according to Mark 1: 1-8 begins not with angels or shepherds or kings, but by telling of our need for God to enter into our lives, become God with us; the Advent story calls to us from the wilderness, John the Baptist challenging us to make straight the path for God.

So, what are we to make of this call from the wilderness? Why does John call from the wilderness, an uninhabited area in the Jordan valley? Wilderness is defined by some as “an area of land that has not been farmed or had towns and roads built on it, especially because it is difficult to live in as a result of its extremely cold or hot weather or bad earth”; others define it as “an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region” (Cambridge Dictionary and English Oxford Living Dictionary). Mark’s gospel makes it clear that the wilderness is part of God’s plan. Wilderness harkens back to the Israelites’ wilderness journey – their flight from Egypt, pillars of fire, 40 years of God’s presence with God’s people, manna and quail. John the Baptist knew this context, this understanding of wilderness. He uses this to call those in the Judean countryside, all Jerusalem, and us into a closer relationship with God. In the words of commentator Tom Wright, John uses the wilderness “turning it into a drama, a play, and telling his hearers that they were the cast. They were to come through the water and be free. They were to leave behind ‘Egypt’ – the world of sin in which they were living, the world of rebelling against the living God. They, the Israel of the day, were looking in the wrong direction and going in the wrong direction. It was time to turn round and go the right way (that’s what ‘repentance’ means).” (Mark for Everyone, Tom Wright, p. 2.)

The wilderness reminds me of thin places. This term originated with the Celts who say heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even shorter. (Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer by Eric Weiner, The New York Times, March 9, 2012.) Some call our mountains here in West Virginia thin places. Thin places allow us to set aside the distractions of everyday life, being uninhabited allows us to turn our focus on God. Whether you call it a thin place or the wilderness, we are able to turn and listen in a way that our everyday lives do not allow.

Stark, in-between, awe-inspiring wilderness allows the people of God to hear God’s voice in new and life-giving ways. This Advent story from Mark highlights that John the Baptist’s call from the wilderness is fundamental to God’s plan.

Advent is a season of new beginnings. This Advent, when John the Baptist cries out from the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him”, this advent, when John the Baptist challenges us to wait expectantly, to repent – turn away from sin and turn toward God, to wait for the one who comes, I ask the Presbytery, are you prepared for our new beginnings – have we made space for God? I invite us to go to this thin space and be transformed – prepare for the birth of Jesus, the Christ, let us look hard at who we are and who we have said we wish to be. Emulate John the Baptist and proclaim from the wilderness and our thin places to those in the cities and the countryside, who need to hear: Jesus comes! Make the path for his arrival straight and be ready for God to act!