Clergy from left, Deacon Amy Schmuck, The Rev. Lynn Finnegan, The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Pastor Nicolé Raddu Ferry and Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com

By Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div.
ELCA

On the second Sunday of Advent our churches read in the Gospel of Luke (ch. 3) about the one sent to announce the coming of the Lord. In this passage, John the Baptist enters the scene, clothed in camel skins, a man living rough who knows something we do not: the Lord is coming, and we need to get ready.

What does it mean for 21st century people of faith to “get ready for the coming of the Lord”? Is it that annual feeling of anxiety, when we realize we only have two and a half weeks left to buy Christmas presents, get the Christmas letter out, or get the tree up and decorated? Is it a celebration of the season, like Los Alamos’ Winter Fest: lots of events to attend, a parade, and the lighting of the trees around Ashley Pond. Or is this biblical getting ready something far more personal and spiritual.

Advent asks us to stop the seasonal “busy-ness” long enough to examine our hearts. When the Lord shows up, are we ready to receive God’s grace-filled presence? I’m talking about glimpses of the Lord in our daily lives: do we appreciate the moment of unexpected kindness from a stranger, the look of forgiveness in the eyes of one we have offended, the helpfulness of someone we had previously not noticed?

Deacon Amy wrote last week about the darkness of this time of year and how the church season of Advent is a time of waiting in hope for the Light. Waiting is not something we do easily. We would rather be franticly preparing than being made to wait. Impatience is a mark of our times, is it not? I mean, we want to be actively doing something! How difficult it is to still our minds and to be at peace, open to the coming of the Lord.

The alternate first lesson for this Sunday, from Baruch, chapter 5 (in the Apocrypha), says this:

Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,
   and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.
2 Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;
   put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting;
3 for God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven.
4 For God will give you evermore the name,
   ‘Righteous Peace, Godly Glory’. (NRSV)

To adorn ourselves with God’s glory, to “walk in beauty” as the Navajo put it, is to wait out the darkness and prepare our hearts for those glimpses of God’s presence. Try that kind of openness. Walk in beauty (joy, happiness, confidence, peace). Be at peace. Prepare the way. Amen

Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a column written by local women clergy including ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com); Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (pastornicole@bethluth.com); The Rev. Lynn Finnegan, Associate Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org) and The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church (momaryannhill@gmail.com) and Deacon Amy Schmuck, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (deaconamy@bethluth.com).