Prepare the way…

(This is my sermon from Sunday, December 6, 2020 in response to the readings from Isaiah 40:1–11 and Mark 1:1–8. You can find the full service on our website.)

Have you ever been to the wilderness? I don’t mean the forest. I’m talking about a desolate place — a place that is not intended for people to live in.

The closest I’ve been was when we were in Iceland for a week. During our time there, the boys and I decided to take part in a hike to a dormant volcano. We had a guide, and we were glad we did or we would have been lost. Our guide picked us up, drove us to the starting point, and we got out of car. And then our adventure began. It was in the wilderness. It was often during our hike that I would stop and look around. And I saw something I had never experienced before — there was no hint of human civilization within sight. For miles and miles and miles. Just rugged wilderness. It’s like the face of the moon, but with some small vegetation. No trees. Just what many would call “nothingness” for as far as the eye can see. It was breath taking in a variety of ways — both good and bad.

There’s something about a wilderness that gives us awe and discomfort, clarity and confusion. The wilderness is unlike anywhere else that we go. It can be disorienting because everything looks the same, with no significant difference in sight. In the wilderness, we can hear ourselves, and God, much clearer, because there are no other voices. In the wilderness, we start to discern what is necessary and what is unnecessary. And in the wilderness, we…