Prepare the way

One day when people came to church to pick up their monthly food bags (see picture), I remember seeing a couple small frail boys eagerly grabbing the bag of food, excited about the chance to eat a full meal. Often some of these children have no other choice to search the dumpster for their next meal. Mercy and justice seem so far away. How great the urgency is when we pray for “Thy Kingdom come.”

In our Advent devotional services at San Mateo we’ve been talking about Advent as not just a time of waiting, but a time of active waiting, of preparation. This idea is well put by John the Baptist when he calls us to “Prepare the way of the Lord.” John gives us an active call, not to just wait around for the Kingdom come, for the day when the fullness of justice and mercy are realized on earth—but prepare the way for justice and mercy. It is easy to get sucked into the darkness of this world, into the reality where children go hungry, where mercy and justice seem far away. During Advent, amidst the darkness of this world, we light a candle, a reminder of the Kingdom of Heaven, where mercy and justice flow like streams, and no one goes hungry. This candle fills us with the strength we need to work for mercy and justice on earth, and it empowers us to “prepare the way.”