2nd Advent - Finding our way in God's Love

Many years ago a friend living in Texas came up to visit me in Fernley. This friend had been born and raised in the city. Anyway, I had asked him what he would like to do and he wanted to go geocaching. Okay, I thought it is March in Northern Nevada, fun! But we went, found a cache located near Lahontan Reservoir, and so we drove out there. I parked the car near the cache and the gps device told us the cache was about 500 feet away. I looked around and had a sense of where it would be, on this hillside. My friend became worried: worried that we would get lost. I said not a problem. What if we lose sight of the car? I looked around, it was Nevada sage, no tree for miles; and again we were only going 500 feet up a hill. I said we will be fine, we will never lose sight of the car and we won’t get lost. We didn’t.

I have been lost in the wilderness once. It was scary. I was in Northern New Mexico, in a thick forest and it was an overcast day. I was by myself, and nobody knew where I was, and looking at the map I thought I could take a short cut. Nope. I lost all sense of direction. I started to panic; I became disoriented. I was able to calm myself down, and retrace my steps, get back on the trail and finally was able to reach my destination. It was really a stupid move on my part.

We need to admire those people who have been lost and then got out of it: Lost in addictions, lost in toxic relationships, lost in grief, lost in fears. It takes courage to leave behind one way of life, no matter how destructive, no matter how unhealthy, no matter how uncomfortable it can be. It takes courage to be able to move forward into a better life.

I suspect we will all go through those moments in life in which we feel lost and truly get lost. There is no shortage of chaos, of grief and loss; of fear that can disorient us. We get caught up, lost in our own lives. What do we do?

Today we read from the very beginning of Mark’s gospel. His initial readers will know about Jesus, and in Mark’s narrative he engages them to enter into the Story of Jesus and of the Christ Event. It will be the Good News of Jesus and what he means for them, for us. That Good News is that Jesus, and through his person and through the Paschal Mystery we are reconciled and united to God in an incredibly different way. The Good News that God remains with us, always.

It is a covenant that comes from God to us; an invitation to belong.

John the Baptist prepares the people, but he is not the way. His baptism is simply the people acknowledging they have become lost, and are ready to change, to repent. In their willingness to change and be changed they open themselves to a new life, to a better life.

Jesus comes to immerse people in the Holy Spirit, the divine Love of God. Jesus comes to reveal that God’s love is never lost, never taken away from us. Jesus’ baptism of the Spirit unites us with God so that the love of God flows within us, and out into the world. Jesus comes not to punish, but to uplift and comfort; to show us how we can live well.

This becomes important to us because this Love of God becomes our root, our direction, our courage. God’s love directs us, inspires us to make changes so as to move from being lost, to coming home. It becomes our compass, our gps that directs us as we move through life.

It is a path though, not a magic act. It is a process, each day, of accepting God’s love and following the way Jesus gives to us. See when lost in grief and sadness, we find our way home in hope and trust. When lost in that anger, we can find our way home in forgiveness. When overcome with Fears, that we only see threats in others and in this world, that divine Trust inspires us to see beauty and goodness.

Of course the hardest step is always the first one; taking that step. Any person who has addictions knows that the admission that the addiction exists has to take place. Any person trying to get out of a bad relationship has to admit the other really does not love them. Any person struggling with depression has to say I have a problem. Any person who is confused about life, has to admit, maybe I have it wrong.

Not that we are bad or sinful, but that there is something False in our lives and in this world; the narrative we have been given is not correct.

Jesus offers us the narrative to life, to the fullness of life.

He does not promise an easy life, as he shows by his own death on the cross. He does promise however that by walking in the way of humility, of generosity and kindness, of mercy and forgiveness, the way of love…we can walk fully and freely, and not get caught up in the wilderness, in the chaos.

It is the ancient promise of God to Israel, follow me in my way and you will not be lost. So they followed God out of slavery into the desert. Yet, they gave up on God and had to wander until they came back. Once in the land God sends the prophets again and again to remind Israel to follow God’s way; because time and again they forget. Then even in exile, God calls out to them in Babylon. This is Isaiah’s text. God calls them home to the land God promised.

All of this is fulfilled in Jesus, but it is not about geography, but of our hearts and minds, our souls. Jesus brings us to ourselves. Signified in our baptism.

And when we forget, we have the Eucharist to call us back to the way. We give thanks to God for this gift that says the way to fullness of life, to being true to ourselves is the way of divine love.

We have the Eucharist to remember God seeks us out, God invites us into a deeper way of life that transforms us, changes us. If we are willing to open ourselves to this change.