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Are We There Yet?
Written by Ed Kauffman
Are We There Yet?
Advent III
Ed Kauffman
A current TV commercial for a van asks, “What’s it like for a family to be in a van for a 5 hour trip?” And I always want to say, “5 hours, that’s barely getting started!” Many of the trips we’ve taken as a family over the years were days long – from
But as you probably all know, it doesn’t have to be a long journey, especially with little children before the inevitable question arises, “Are we there yet?” In fact, sometimes that question can come 5 minutes after leaving home! Somehow, a child’s sense of time seems to vanish when they start on a journey.
During Advent we embark on a journey. Yes, it’s a journey toward Christmas, and the children have quickly picked up on the clock and how much time is left. But it’s also a longer journey. We have been reading the prophet Isaiah who keeps talking about this vision for the future. A vision captured for us in art and music of a time when swords will be beaten into plowshares, all creation will get along in the peaceable kingdom, and where the desert will bloom and the highway will be straight and safe. And we’ve been told these will all happen in God’s time, in kairos time. But like the sand in the hourglass painting, time doesn’t seem to be moving. And we begin to ask, “Are we there yet?” Are we making any progress?
Oh, yes, we’ve caught glimpses. We’ve heard testimonies that God’s timing does work out. And we’ve heard glimpses of places and times where creation and people do experience the joy of God’s love and acceptance. We hear Mary’s song and recognize that in choosing Mary to be the mother of Jesus, God has already begun the fulfillment of raising up the lowly and bringing down the haughty. We’ve seen signs of peace and reconciliation.
But those are just signposts along the road that tell us we’re headed in the right direction. They don’t even tell us how far it is to the end, but it’s clear we haven’t arrived. It would be like heading for
The early church had the same problem, and so James says, “Be patient.” But patience is not something that comes easily to us. We tend to pray, “Lord give me patience, and give it to me right now!” James wrote in the 1st century, and he said “the coming of the Lord is near.” And here we are 20 centuries later, still waiting. How do we keep hope alive? How do we have patience for these visions to become reality in a world that values instant gratification over almost anything else?
Perhaps we can get some help even from the prophet himself. Isaiah, in chapter 35 speaks of both creation and people rejoicing at the coming of the Lord. The desert will bloom and waters will break forth in the burning sand. Feeble hands will be strengthened and weak knees will be made firm – good news for football and hockey players! The blind will see and the deaf hear. In other words, the most barren places will flourish and the weakest people will be restored.
And the key to all this is actually found in the structure of the poetry, for verses 1 to 7 are arranged in a chiasm, a poetic arrangement common throughout the Bible. In this case the pattern is a-b-c-b-a. So the vision begins with “A” creation v. 1 The wilderness and the dry ground
then moves to “B” humanity in v. 3 “Strengthen the weak hands…
then to the central point C
and then back to “B” humanity – “the eyes of the blind shall be opened”
and finally back to “A” “For waters shall break forth in the wilderness…”
And what is “C” It comes in verse 4 “Behold, your God”
God holds the central point in this drama and in the unfolding journey. While we are travelers on the journey, it is God’s journey and not ours. While we may be called to live in the light of the Kingdom, we should never get the idea that we are the ones who will bring in the Kingdom. Mary doesn’t sing, “How great I am for being the mother of Jesus.” Her first words are, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour. God has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name.”
In order to have patience, we need hope – hope in something we can trust. Hope that indeed the promised future will become a reality. After years of experience, the farmer knows that if they wait, the crop will come up. Granted, sometimes circumstances prevent that from happening, sometimes the rains don’t come, or come too soon or too much, but experience has shown us that with patience, seeds grow and the harvest comes.
So it is on this journey of Advent. Each year we read these passages and wonder when they will come to fruition. And each year we remember and see anew the signs of God’s breaking in to our human history to make the vision closer to reality. We remember that God sent Jesus among us, already fulfilling some of that vision and announcing that God’s Kingdom has come near. In Mary and Elizabeth we see a sign of things to come, and in the lives of faithful people throughout the centuries we catch glimpses of a new creation.
If we allow ourselves to enter the wilderness, we can discover creation in a new way and experience time standing still. And when we experience God’s Kingdom breaking in, when the highway we are on becomes the highway of our God, then our response can only be that of the exiles returning home – namely joy and gladness. The redeemed of the Lord shall return, joy and gladness, these shall be their portion – the words we heard from Brahms’ Requiem.
Isaiah says this highway is foolproof. The dangers of travel are gone, no wild animals, no dangerous curves. It is God’s highway and we are invited to travel in God’s time and place, with singing and rejoicing. We can do that, with patience, because we know the God who travels with us, who makes the way straight and comes to us in the child, Jesus.
Hark the glad sound, the Saviour comes, the Saviour promised long.