On my first trip back to England in 2014, I took a minibus day trip round a small part of the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are the quintessential statement of English countryside, with rolling hills, sheep, farms, and ancient churches - dating back to the 13th century in one case. We stopped at one village for lunch, and I went into a souvenir shop and bought this little wall plaque that says “Whatever your past has been, you have spotless future”.
So it is with our gospel reading this morning, a very appropriate reading for the season of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for new beginnings. It’s a time of reflection on how our relationship with God is. And it’s also an opportunity to consider the matter of God’s self-disclosure as we prepare the way, which is what I want to do this morning.
The opening sentence
of Mark’s gospel is headline stuff. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. The Greek word is arch, first principles, a new start. God is doing a new
thing in history, albeit disclosed to the prophet Isaiah 700 years earlier, make
preparation for the coming of the Lord.
Isaiah didn’t know
when it would happen. That wasn’t the prophet’s role. They often interpreted a message
disclosed to them, in terms of their present happenings and what to expect
without putting a time frame on it.
Mark writes the
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is not a what, it’s not a
text or a set of statements. The gospel is a who. It is the gospel OF Jesus
Christ. The text is a witness TO the person who is good news (the word gospel
means good news). And Mark qualifies the who as being Son of God. In other
words, this is headline stuff, so sit up and take note of what I am writing
about.
Within Mark’s
application of Isaiah’s message to that of John the Baptist, that he is the
voice of a herald crying out in the desert, there are the questions of who will
hear, and who will respond? A herald doesn’t deliver a message for the sake of
hearing his own voice. There has to be a response from those who might listen.
And the expected response is to accept a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins. That is how the way of the Lord is prepared as a first
step by anyone.
What then can we say
about God’s self-disclosure? For this is what the headline of Mark’s text is
about. God has disclosed himself in the prophetic voice of Isaiah, realized in
the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Our God is not
unknowable. God is relational and he has created mankind in his image as
relational. And you cannot be relational without self-disclosure. God’s
self-disclosure is like a language, because language is communicative as is
self-disclosure. God’s language proceeds by events, words, and works (what God
has done and said).
It’s knowing God’s name (hence we can call upon the name of the Lord). It’s also in the silence of our hearts (be still and know that I am God). And in these last days, God’s language includes the appearance of his Son to share our humanity. So God has used his language of self-disclosure to speak to us in many and various ways.
How then do we learn
this language? Well, the best way to learn any language is to immerse yourself
in the context within which it is used. That’s why mission workers spend the
first couple of years of their placement on overseas location in language
learning. They live it, breath it and soak themselves in it. Far more effective
than trying to learn it online at home.
In the same way, we
learn God’s language of self-disclosure by immersing ourselves in it. Answers
to prayer; recognizing the actions of God in our lives and in the lives of
others around us; spending time in silence; reading and pondering closely and
carefully the scriptures.
There’s a method of
communication between partners call the Five Love Languages. Each love language
is a form of self-disclosure expressed between couples. The five are, words of
affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical
touch. Each partner’s language is learnt by the other immersing themselves in
it, so that over time it becomes second nature.
And it’s not difficult
to see these five happening between ourselves and God. Words of affirmation –
yes; quality time spent in each other’s presence – definitely; receiving gifts
– certainly; acts of service – does not God serve us by providing all we need,
and we serve him in obedience to our Christian calling? Physical touch is bit
difficult since Christ is no longer in the world, that is, he is risen and ascended. But the Holy Spirit sure is,
and when he touches you, by jingo you know about it!
Struggling with God.
Sometimes it’s like, how long O Lord is this going on for? Why? But hey, the
language of God-struggle broadens the boundaries of your relationship with him,
especially when it brings new beginnings and the disposition of confidence and
security that God is the rock on which you stand.
Now let’s go back to
the theme of preparing the way. God’s self-disclosure to us in those many and
various ways is what helps us to prepare the way for him in our hearts, in our
lives and in our work. Confession of sin and approaching God in penitence and
in faith is the first step of course, but it’s only the first step. We can’t
leave it at that. There is work to be done and lives to live.
The season of Advent
is a good opportunity for us to apply the language of God’s self-disclosure in
a more radical and interior way that we might otherwise do. It’s an opportunity
to examine our thoughts and desires, and to discern the intentions of our
hearts.
All of it, God’s acts,
his witness, his name, the stillness, our prayer life, penetrates soul and
spirit, discerning matters of the heart. And the more you gaze upon God’s
language, the brighter it shines back at you. The voice crying in the
wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, becomes loud and clear.
Now a few comments
about new beginnings in Advent for our parish. God is a free agent, free to
create new things and new beginnings. The season of Advent is our
opportunity for preparation and the coming of new things and new acts of God, and a new approach to our focus group of people seeking
connections in our mission action plan.
So, can I encourage us
all this Advent season to do two things: gaze more closely into the language of
God’s self-disclosure, and reflect on our own self-care (given the awful year
we’ve all just had). Both will go a long way to understanding the voice crying in
our deserts to prepare the way for new things to come in a new year.
I know Christmas is around
the corner, and we are all looking even more closely at our watches and
calendar boxes. But perhaps we would do well to ask not how much time we’ve
got, but how we live today while it is still called Today.
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. In the desert there is the voice of one crying in the wilderness to
prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight. Soak yourselves in
the voice of God’s word, work, stillness and presence. Listen and be still
before you act. Take care of yourselves, look out for those who need to receive
some care, and have a wonderful Advent season.
Philip Starks
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